• Source:JND
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T20 World Cup 2024: Virat Kohli received a warm welcome from the fans when he arrived at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium for India's T20 World Cup 2024 Warm-up match against Bangladesh on Saturday, June 1.

Kohli, who just reached the United States of America on 30 May, Friday was rested from the warm-up match despite undergoing light training.

The star batter had taken a long flight to the USA and was the last player to join the Indian squad so it always remained unlikely that he would feature in the team's only warm-up match in the marquee tournament.

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However, his presence on the field ahead of the action was enough to have fans up and cheering as such is the aura of one of the most popular cricketers across the globe.

Apart from Kohli, the rest of the Indian players have been in New York since 26 May and underwent a couple of intense sessions of training before coming into the warm-up game.

Kohli is heading into the marquee tournament on the back of yet another remarkable IPL season with the bat while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

He ended the IPL 2024 as the top run-getter, having scored 741 runs in 15 matches as he helped RCB reach the playoffs.

Talking about the warm-up match, India won the toss and opted to bat first with skipper Rohit Sharma saying that the team wanted to challenge themselves in unknown conditions.

Kohli is the leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup history with 1141 runs to his name in 25 innings he has played across five editions at an average of 81.5 and strike rate of 131.3.

The 35-year-old is the only player to be adjudged as the Player of the Tournament twice in the T20 World Cup history, achieving the feat in the 2014 and 2016 editions.

The ninth edition of the T20 WC is scheduled to be played in the West Indies and the USA and commences on June 2 with the first match between the USA and Canada.

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While expressing his excitement about playing cricket in the USA, Kohli said: “Honestly, I never thought we would be playing cricket in any form in the States. But now it’s a reality. And that tells you about the growing impact of the sport in the world and the United States is more than willing to accept the change and be probably the first ones on a global scale to accept it, in a way, with the World Cup."

India, who won their only T20 WC title way back in 2007, will kick off their campaign against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on June 5.