Captain Rohit Sharma won the toss as India elected to bat first against Bangladesh in their only T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up match in New York on Saturday, June 1. Virat Kohli arrived at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium to start preparations for the game but missed out on India's playing eleven.
Rohit revealed that Virat arrived just a day before the practice match and needed the rest before India's opening game against Ireland on June 5. Kohli was spotted having talks with Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid just before the toss and also did some light training with his teammates.
"We will bat," Rohit said after winning the toss. "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."
Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Shanto made two big changes to their starting eleven with star pace bowlers Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed missing out on the starting eleven due to extended rest.
"We would have bowled, we'll have to adjust the conditions and I want to know how the bowlers do," Shanto said. "The boys have enjoyed themselves so far here, we are going to play with 13 players - Taskin and Mustafizur have been rested."
Notably, in a surprise move, the wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson opened an innings with Rohit Sharma. Yashasvi Jaiswal might feature in the middle order with Kohli missing out as the management tests various combinations in their final preparations.
Kohli is also in contention to open an innings in the World Cup after a stellar performance in the IPL 2024. The RCB star bagged the Orange Cap for scoring the highest 741 runs at a strike rate of over 150 as an opener. Fans are also interested to see who dons the wicketkeeping gloves with in-form Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant battling for the spot.
