The Indian men’s cricket team landed in Melbourne on Thursday (October 20), three days before the start of their T20 World Cup campaign. The team travelled to Australia from India on October 6 itself and had a week-long training camp in Perth, where they also played two warm-up matches against Western Australia XI. After getting accustomed to the local conditions, the Men in Blue travelled to Brisbane, where they were scheduled to take part in two pre-T20 World Cup warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and October 19. But they could only play the first one against Australia because the second one got washed away due to rain.
In their warm-up match against Australia, the Men in Blue managed to secure a narrow six-run win over the reigning T20 World Cup winners. In that game, opening batter KL Rahul and number four, Suryakumar Yadav, scored fifties for India, but the highlight of the game was the superb final over, which was bowled by Mohammed Shami, in which he got rid of three Australian batters in the last four balls.
After completing the warm-up matches assignment, Team India will now step up their preparations for their tournament’s opener, and in their first match they will be up against arch-rivals Pakistan. India enjoys a dominant record against Pakistan in T20 World Cup matches in general, but they can’t afford to take them lightly on Sunday (October 23), as the last time these two sides faced each other in a T20 World Cup match, Pakistan, for the first time in their history of World Cup matches, managed to get the better of India. And they did it in style as well, by securing a 10-wicket win.
India will look to take revenge for last year’s defeat in front of a jam-packed Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is expected to host around one lakh fans on Sunday. The BCCI posted a video of the players checking out of their hotel in Brisbane and taking a flight to Melbourne via its official Twitter handle.
In the T20 World Cup 2022, the Men in Blue will play two Super 12 matches in Melbourne. Apart from the opening game against Pakistan on October 23, India will be up against the winners of Group B from the first round of matches at the MCG on November 6. The final of the T20 World Cup will also take place in Melbourne and the Rohit Sharma-led side will hope to travel to Melbourne for it as well.
