• Source:JND
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T20 World Cup 2024: Virat Kohli has joined the Indian team in the USA for the T20 World Cup 2024 ahead of their only warm-up match against Bangladesh which will be played on Saturday, May 31.

Kohli, who arrived in New York on Friday, remains a doubt for the Bangladesh clash at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, having travelled a long way and might be rested.

"Virat Kohli has checked in at the team hotel and after a long flight, he would be taking rest," PTI quoted a senior BCCI source as saying.

Kohli's participation in the match will depend on whether he is willing to have a hit against Bangladesh ahead of their tournament opener on June 5.

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The star batter will be heading into the marquee tournament on the back of a remarkable IPL 2024 season with the bat, having scored 741 runs in 15 matches and ended up winning the Orange Cap.

He reached the venue five days after his other team members landed and so far has missed three sessions of training but will still get three quality net sessions before India take the field against Ireland in their first match of the tournament.

There was an optional training session on Friday morning in which Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube and Mohammed Siraj sweated it out under the guidance of the support staff.

The team management and the BCCI have often made exceptions about Kohli linking up with the national team. He was also permitted a break before the South Africa Test series when he arrived in the 'Rainbow Nation' only to leave for the UK for personal reasons before rejoining the squad.

He skipped the entire England Test series at home in February-March for the birth of his second child.

This time too, for the T20 World Cup, the first batch of players flew in on May 25 while the second group touched down on May 28.

Notably, Kohli is the top run-getter in the history of the T20 World Cup as he has scored 1141 runs in 27 matches, having first played in the 2012 edition.

The talismanic batter is the only player to have won the Player of the Tournament award twice in the T20 WC history, a feat he achieved in the 2014 and 2016 editions.

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Kohli also was the top run-getter in T20 WC's last edition which was played in 2022 in Australia, having scored 296 runs in six matches at an average of 98.67.

In a thrilling match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic MCG, Kohli played one of the finest T20I knocks when he took over his side home with a memorable innings of unbeaten 82 runs in 53 balls.

He smashed six fours and four sixes and helped India chase down the 160-run target despite being 31/4 at once.

 

(With PTI Inputs)