T20 World Cup: Team India arrive in Melbourne ahead of blockbuster opening clash against Pakistan – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Team India arrived in Melbourne from Brisbane on Thursday ahead of their blockbuster opening clash of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan.

The inaugural T20 world champions take on arch-rivals Pakistan at a sold-out Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, 23 October, a day after the tournament opener between hosts and defending champions Australia against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand.

India had earlier arrived on Australian shores at Perth in the first week of October, where they played two practice matches against the Western Australian XI at the WACA Ground. From there they travelled to Brisbane in Queensland, where they beat hosts Australia by six runs in the first of their two warm-up matches. Their second warm-up game against New Zealand was subsequently rained off.

India are grouped alongside South Africa, Bangladesh Netherlands and the winner of Group B besides arch-rivals Pakistan, against whom they suffered their first-ever defeat in World Cups with a 10-wicket thrashing in Dubai last year.

The Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue are seeking their first major title in over nine years. Team India won the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup as well as the Champions Trophy during MS Dhoni’s reign.

Despite the vast success in the Test arena during Virat Kohli’s tenure, the team failed to win an ICC trophy, finishing runners-up in the 2017 Champions Trophy and losing to New Zealand in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final before suffering a first-round exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Rohit, under whom India won the 2018 Asia Cup, is set to lead India in an ICC global event for the first time.

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