Team India will be on the hunt to end their ICC trophy drought later this year during the World Cup at home. The schedule of the mega event was announced on Tuesday (June 27) and the hosts, under Rohit Sharma's leadership, are set to play a total of nine league game at nine different venues. Total 10 cities are hosting World Cup matches and only Hyderabad has not got an India game.
Apart from league stage matches, team India will also be playing two warm-up matches - against England (September 30 in Guwahati) and one of the qualifying teams (October 3 in Kerala). Around 11 ODIs in a space of 43 days might look easy on the hindsight but the team will be travelling a lot during this period. All these 11 ODI matches of the World Cup will be played at 11 different venues unlike other teams who at least have two of their matches at the same venue.
Once the team reaches Guwahati for the warm-up game against England, the aerial distance the Men in Blue have to traverse is as follows - Guwahati to Trivandrum (2506 km), Trivandrum to Chennai (621 km), Chennai to Delhi (1761 km), Delhi to Ahmedabad (775 km), Ahmedabad to Pune (518 km), Pune to Dharamsala (1543 km), Dharamsala to Lucknow (748 km), Lucknow to Mumbai (1190 km), Mumbai to Kolkata (1652 km) and Kolkata to Bengaluru (1560 km).
The total aerial distance traversed in these 11 matches will be a massive 12874 kms. Looking at the schedule, team India will have to catch a flight on every third day. Only twice they have a break longer than 4 days between two matches - one ahead of the match against England and the other ahead of their last league game against the qualifier team.
"In case of Indian team, you can't deny any of the nine associations a chance to watch their stars in action. You had to accommodate each and every member association and hence it's a bit choc-a-bloc," a BCCI official told PTI. Team India is also expected to reach at least the semi-final which they will play in Mumbai. The aerial distance from Bengaluru to Mumbai 842 kms and if the Men in Blue reach final, they will have to further travel 441 kms to reach Ahmedabad where the final is scheduled on November 19.
This will total up to a travel of 14157 kms for India to play 13 ODIs during the World Cup if they reach the final. No wonder it will be tiresome for the players as the conditions in different cities in India will also play a part and the players will have to be up for the challenge if India are to win their first ICC trophy since 2013.
