T20 World Cup-Bound Indian Team Leaves for Australia In Wee Hours from Mumbai | WATCH

The T20 World Cup 2022-bound Indian team left for Australia in the wee hours of Thursday. A video of the team departing from the Mumbai airport shows the likes of KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya alighting the team bus and heading inside the airport. Also among the presence was Virat Kohli who is expected to be the mainstay of Team India’s batting alongside skipper Rohit Sharma. India will travel to Perth before traveling to Sydney where they are scheduled to play two warm up games against New Zealand and hosts Australia before taking on Pakistan in the all-important opener on October 23.

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Earlier the BCCI has also shared the picture of the team departing from Mumbai with a caption reading: “Picture Perfect, Let’s do this, Team India."

The Board had picked the 15-man squad on September 12 where Rohit Sharma was named captain with KL Rahul being the vice captain. The selection was on expected line with Rohit, Virat Kohli, Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda named named as specialist batters. Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel are the two allrounders in the squad.

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Rishabh Pant and veteran Dinesh Karthik had been named as the two wicketkeepers. Nonetheless, with Jasprit Bumrah now out, the bowling lacks teeth. Recent show against Australia and South Africa also rasises questions on India’s death bowling which comprises the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh.

Earlier left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh was rewarded for his impressive start to international career and will provide a different dimension to the team’s pace attack.

Spin department will be manned by veteran Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal with assistance from Axar and part-timer Hooda.

Avesh Khan was the lone member of the Asia Cup squad who seems to have been snubbed while Ravindra Jadeja is out with injury.

Deepak Chahar and young spinner Ravi Bishnoi have been named in the standby list alongside Mohammed Shami and Shreyas Iyer.

The T20 World Cup will get underway from October 16 with the final slated for November 13. India have been pooled in Group 2 alongside Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and two qualifiers.

India open their campaign on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Pakistan. Last year, India exited from the group stage itself after losing their opening two matches to Pakistan and New Zealand.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. Standby Players: Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.

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