Virat Kohli, as expected, missed India's only warm-up match against Bangladesh in New York before the main rounds of the T20 World Cup.
Kohli was the only member of India's 15-man T20 World Cup squad not available for selection on Saturday, informed captain Rohit Sharma after winning the toss and opting to bat.
Rohit Sharma and his teammate Virat Kohli (L)(AFP)Rohit said Kohli was given a breather as he landed in the USA on Friday after taking a long flight.
The warm-up matches ahead of this World Cup have not been given List A status, which allows all the teams to play all of their 15 players.
India start their World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5.
Virat Kohli, as expected, missed India's only warm-up match against Bangladesh in New York before the main rounds of the T20 World Cup. Kohli was the only member of India's 15-man T20 World Cup squad not available for selection on Saturday, informed captain Rohit Sharma after winning the toss and opting to bat. Rohit Sharma and his teammate Virat Kohli (L)(AFP)
Rohit said Kohli was given a breather as he landed in the USA on Friday after taking a long flight. Kohli was the last to arrive in New York. The former captain was granted extra leave after a hectic two-month-long IPL.
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“We will bat. Not for any particular reason, conditions here look a bit challenging. Virat has just arrived yesterday, he's going to miss out, the rest are all available and we'll see how to use them. We arrived quite early, so the body clock has adjusted, we just have to see how well we can adjust to these conditions,” Rohit said at the toss.
The warm-up matches ahead of this World Cup have not been given List A status, which allows all the teams to play all of their 15 players.
Coming off a scratchy series defeat to the USA, Najmul Hossain Shanto's side will be desperate to put the pieces of a winning plan together, while it's a vital, sole warm-up hitout for an India side yearning to lift the T20 World Cup trophy on June 29.
Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said, "We would have bowled, we'll have to adjust the conditions and I want to know how the bowlers do. The boys have enjoyed themselves so far here, we are going to play with 13 players - Taskin and Mustafizur have been rested."
India playing 14: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Bangladesh playing 13: Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali(w), Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzid Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Tanvir Islam.
India start their World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5.
