After his 16-hour trip landed on Friday, May 31, star cricket player Virat Kohli met up with his teammates from India at the hotel. His availability to play in India’s only practice match against Bangladesh on Saturday, June 1st, is still unknown.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) granted the former captain of India a brief leave of absence following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s exit from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Playoffs. The New Delhi-born player took a break and stayed back in India before travelling to the “Big Apple,” while the other players in the squad arrived in the States in a few batches. He was not permitted to participate in India’s optional training session. The veteran made the decision to relax after checking into the hotel.
“Virat Kohli has arrived at the team hotel. He will be resting after a lengthy flight,” the Hindustan Times cited a senior BCCI source as saying.
On Friday morning, there was an optional training session where participants like Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, and Mohammed Siraj put in a lot of effort while the support staff watched them closely.
As India attempts to end their 11-year quest for an elusive ICC crown, Kohli has skipped three training sessions thus far. Still, he won’t be overly upset because he was in excellent form in the IPL 2024, finishing as the top run scorer with 741 runs at 61.75 from 15 matches. Before India’s opening tournament encounter against Ireland on June 5, the Delhi batter will receive three excellent training sessions, even if he chooses not to play in the warm-up match.
Also read: Virat Kohli meets US Consulate General Mike Hankey in Mumbai before heading to New York
The Men in Blue have only played three Twenty20 internationals this year. In a home three-match series in January, they thoroughly defeated Afghanistan. England defeated Rohit Sharma’s team in the semifinals of the 2022 tournament. In the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals versus Australia last year, India was defeated. When the T20 World Cup kicks off on June 2, they will be devastated to take home the trophy.
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