The Indian cricket team led by Rohit Sharma will take on Bangladesh in their only warm up game of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on Saturday at the Nassau County International Cricket stadium, on the outskirts of New York. It will be the first opportunity for the Indian players to play at the make-shift stadium at Eisenhower Park in Long Island. The Indian players since reaching New York have been training at the Cantiague Park which is about 7 kilometers from the main stadium.
Star Indian batter Virat Kohli had joined the Indian squad on Friday. As expected, Kohli decided to skip the optional practice session which was attended by only four cricketers — Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj, Rinku Singh and Avesh Khan. Pant, who is all set to make a comeback in the national team after almost 16 months, was seen spending a lot of time on ‘keeping’ practice.
According to reports, the Indian team was not allowed to train at the main venue a day before the warm-up game. Captain Rohit Sharma and Head Coach Rahul Dravid did visit the Nassau County International Stadium to have a look at the wicket on Friday afternoon.
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The Indian team had a full-fledged training session on Wednesday and Thursday with the focus being getting used to the drop-in pitches. There were six drop-in pitches at the Cantiague Park which offered a lot of bounce. All the batters had an extended session at nets, trying to get used to the conditions. Vice-captain Hardik Pandya was seen rolling his arms for almost an hour. Shivam Dube too got an opportunity to bowl at the nets to captain Rohit Sharma.
There is a lot of expectation from the local Indian diaspora as the warm-up game will be open for spectators. The match will also be streamed live by the host broadcasters. The Men in Blue will kickstart its ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland to be played at the same venue on June 5.
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