Most members of the India team had their first training session after reaching New York City ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Tuesday at a local facility. Virat Kohli is the only one to not have reached New York yet, and could be a doubt for India’s only warm-up fixture ahead of the main tournament, against Bangladesh on June 1 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. There has been no update on his travel status from the BCCI yet.
The team has travelled to New York in batches, with players from teams eliminated after the league stage of IPL 2024 travelling first, except Hardik Pandya, who reached after a break, followed by players as and when their teams were eliminated from the playoffs.
Soham Desai, the team’s strength and conditioning coach provided an idea of the routine being followed by the players, who have all been part of the grind at IPL 2024 over the past couple of months and are easing into match-readiness. “Eased into our routines here, the idea was to just get used to the time zone,” he said in a video posted by the BCCI on social media.
“We’ve not yet played cricket. We’ve come here for a team activity today,” Jasprit Bumrah said. “Hopefully it will be good. The weather is really good. So looking forward.”
The players warmed up, went for runs, did some basic strength-and-conditioning work, and did some drills with a football.
“They have been away for two-and-a-half months from us [the national team setup]. Just getting them together to know where they stand, what needs to be done before the World Cup was the goal,” Desai said of the Tuesday session. “[The] goal is to spend 45 minutes to an hour there on the park to again get going.
“We want to see them move. We want to see them run so that we can put enough plans in place for each guy to be ready for the first game.
Hardik, who took a short break after the IPL before linking up with the team, seemed excited to be playing in a new part of the world, talking up “the good vibe”, while Ravindra Jadeja was expecting to have “super, super fun”, and Suryakumar Yadav felt the first day out “was amazing”.
India’s first game at the World Cup will be on June 5, against Ireland, followed by group-stage fixtures against Pakistan on June 9, USA on June 12, and Canada on June 15. The first three games will be played in New York and the last in Lauderhill, Florida. (ESPNCricinfo)
