India’s mercurial batter Virat Kohli had reportedly asked for a short break from the BCCI before the T20 World Cup 2024 and got the same. He was not on the flight to New York with the first batch of the Indian team squad which arrived in New York on Sunday.

Virat Kohli was the Orange Cap winner in the recently concluded IPL 2024 scoring 741 runs for RCB. He scored one century and 5 fifties in 15 games as well.

As per News18 report, Virat Kohli will likely link up with the squad before the only warm-up fixture, vs Bangladesh on June 1. It is understood that he will fly towards the end of the month.

“He will reach New York before the warm-up vs Bangladesh on June 1. Whether he plays or not in the warm-up will be management’s call – whether they feel there is enough gap between him landing and the warm-up fixture,” a source told News18.com.

The second batch of players left this morning and Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, and Yashasvi Jaiswal will join the squad soon.

Meanwhile, the first batch of players including captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Akshar Patel and traveling reserves Shubman Gill and Khaleel Ahmed touched down in New York on Sunday.

The BCCI shared a video of their arrival in the city.

The entire support staff, led by head coach Rahul Dravid, also arrived with the first batch, and Hardik Pandya is understood to be reached directly from London. India’s premier all-rounder, Mumbai Indians, was on vacation after his IPL side crashed out in the league stages. He was scheduled to travel directly from London to New York.

The Indian cricket team will stay at a five-star hotel not very far away from the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.

The venue will host the side’s warm-up fixture and three more matches—vs. Ireland, Pakistan, and the USA. Then the Indian team will move to Florida for their final league stage match against Canada.

All the Super Eight fixtures, semi-finals, and finals will be played in the West Indies.