Team India Begins Training in NY for ICC T20 World Cup Opener

Team India has commenced its training in New York ahead of their ICC T20 World Cup opening match against Ireland on June 5. The ICC T20 World Cup will be held in the West Indies and the USA from June 1 to 29. The Men in Blue will also play a warm-up game against Bangladesh on June 1 at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah shared a picture on Instagram of several Indian players warming up, including himself, pacer Arshdeep Singh, all-rounders Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, and the number one ranked batter in T20Is, Suryakumar Yadav.

Bumrah’s form, pace, yorkers, and fitness will be crucial for India’s success in the tournament. Having missed the 2022 edition in Australia due to injuries, Bumrah’s absence was deeply felt as India was defeated by England by 10 wickets in the semifinals. In 10 T20 World Cup matches across the 2016 and 2021 editions, Bumrah took 11 wickets at an average of 22.54 and a strike rate of 21.0, with the best figures of 2/10.

Despite his franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) finishing last in the recent IPL with just four wins in 14 games, Bumrah showed excellent form. In 13 games, he took 20 wickets at an average of 16.80 and an economy rate of just 6.48, with the best figures of 5/21, making him the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

India’s T20 World Cup campaign starts on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The highly anticipated clash between India and Pakistan will take place on June 9. India will then face co-hosts USA on June 12 and Canada on June 15 to complete their Group A matches.

India aims to end their ICC trophy drought, having last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, they have reached the 50-over World Cup final in 2023, semifinals in 2015 and 2019, the ICC World Test Championship finals in 2021 and 2023, the T20 World Cup final in 2014, and semifinals in 2016 and 2022 but have not secured a major ICC trophy. They aim to win their first T20 World Cup title since the inaugural tournament in 2007 in South Africa. In the last edition held in Australia in 2022, India lost to England by 10 wickets in the semifinals.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, and Avesh Khan.