Rohit Sharma returns, joins team India training ahead of T20 WC opener

The Men in Blue will also face Bangladesh in their lone warm-up match on June 1 at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

New York: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had a training season with his Men in Blue ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup opening clash against Ireland scheduled for June 5 in New York.

The ICC T20 World Cup will be played in the West Indies and the USA from June 1 to 29. The Men in Blue will also play Bangladesh in their only warm-up game on June 1 at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

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Rohit took to Instagram and shared some pictures of him running with his boys, having some laughs, and having serious interactions with his teammates.

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A post shared by Rohit Sharma (@rohitsharma45)

Rohit’s form will be extremely crucial in determining how far India goes in this campaign. His explosive starts in the powerplay alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal or Virat Kohli will play a big role in ensuring that India is ten steps ahead of its opponents in terms of the run rate and positive intent.

He is the fourth-highest run-scorer in T20 WC history, scoring 963 runs at an average of 34.39 and a strike rate of 127.88, with nine fifties. His best score is 79*.

Rohit also had a very decent Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign with Mumbai Indians (MI) this year, though his side finished last with just four wins in 14 games. He scored 417 runs in 14 games at an average of 32.07 and a strike rate of 150.00, with a century and fifty. His best score was 105* this season.

India will start their T20 World Cup campaign on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Meanwhile, the most-awaited blockbuster clash between India and Pakistan will take place on June 9. They will later play tournament co-hosts USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15) to wrap up their Group A matches.

In the tournament, India will be aiming to end their ICC trophy drought, having last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, India has reached the 50-over World Cup final in 2023, semifinal in 2015 and 2019, the title clash of the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, T20 WC final in 2014, semifinals in 2016 and 2022 but failed to secure a big ICC trophy.

India will be aiming to win their first T20 WC title since they won the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2007 in South Africa. In the last edition held in Australia in 2022, India lost to England by 10 wickets in the semifinals.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan. (ANI)