[In Pictures] Team India members head to Australia for T20 World Cup 2022

The Indian cricket team and support staff have left for Australia to take part in the T20 World Cup 2022, which will be played from October 16 to November 13.

The Men in Blue head into the ICC event on a high, having defeated Australia and South Africa in consecutive T20I series at home. However, they will be aware that the T20 World Cup Down Under will be a totally different challenge.

Early on Thursday morning, October 6, the official social media handles of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a group picture of the Team India contingent ahead of their departure for Australia.

The image featured all 14 players in the main squad (Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement is yet to be announced) as well as members of the support staff, led by head coach Rahul Dravid. The BCCI shared the picture with the caption:

“Picture perfect. Let's do this #TeamIndia. @cricketworldcup, here we come ✈.”

The Indian cricket team ahead of their departure for the T20 World Cup. Pic: BCCI

Senior Team India batter Virat Kohli also shared a picture with pacer Harshal Patel and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. While uploading the image, he wrote:

“Australia bound ✈️. Exciting times ahead. ✌️ @yuzi_chahal @HarshalPatel23.”

(LtoR) Virat Kohli, Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Suryakumar Yadav shared a picture with skipper Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant with the caption:

“Cannot wait for the upcoming challenge. Excited. Nervous but so so motivated.”

Suryakumar Yadav with skipper Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant.

India’s first match of the T20 World Cup 2022 will be against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23. However, they will be reaching Australia early to acclimatize themselves to the conditions.

The Indian team will have a week-long camp in Perth, where they are slated to play a practice game against Western Australia.

Subsequently, they will head to Brisbane for two warm-up matches against defending champions and hosts Australia on October 17 and New Zealand on October 19.

Meanwhile, either Mohammed Shami or Deepak Chahar could be named as Bumrah’s replacement in Team India’s 15-member T20 World Cup squad.

An official announcement on the same is expected in the coming days.

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Team India’s T20 World Cup 2022 squad:

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.