Will Virat Kohli miss India’s warm-up game against Bangladesh? When will India star reach USA before T20 World Cup 2024 | Sporting News India

The ICC T20 World Cup is set to start in a couple of days with the United States and the West Indies set to host the tournament, spanning the entire month of June. 

The inaugural T20 World champions, India will be in the hunt for their second T20 title under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Hardik Pandya. It seems like all squad members of the team have travelled to the USA and started their training session, except for one man, Virat Kohli. 

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Kohli has been the backbone of the Indian batting lineup year after year, and when it comes to T20 World Cups, Kohli has been India’s main man by a mile. 

Kohli took a short break after his team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were knocked out of the IPL by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and so far there has been reported by news outlet PTI that he will be joining the squad by Friday, May 31. 

“Kohli took a break for personal work after RCB’s IPL ouster and in all likelihood, he will join the squad by Friday,” PTI stated. 

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Will Kohli miss the warm-up game against Bangladesh?

India will be playing their only warm-up game ahead of the T20 World Cup against Bangladesh on June 1. Considering the long journey that Kohli will make to join the rest of the team just a day earlier, it would be difficult for the batter to feature in the warm-up game. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Indian contingent arrived in the USA in batches, with captain Rohit Sharma and others being the first ones to depart on May 25. They were later joined by the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who featured for RR in the Qualifier 2 of the IPL playoffs. 

Talking about the IPL, Kohli managed to win the orange cap, contributing over 700 runs for the Bengaluru side, but were eventually knocked out rather comfortably by RR in the Eliminator. The RCB talisman showcased consistent performances throughout the IPL and would be a key player for India entering the T20 World Cup. 

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India’s schedule for the T20 World Cup

India will be kick-starting their T20 World Cup campaign on June 5 against the Irish in New York, after which they will be facing Pakistan in a highly anticipated game on June 9.