Published: Feb 20, 2016, 10:19 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 20, 2016, 10:19 PM (IST)
Kolkata: The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Indian cricket team will leave for Dhaka from Kolkata on Sunday evening to take part in the Asia Cup T20 which starts on February 24. Three of the players will have an open media session on Sunday at a plush south Kolkata hotel followed by the pre-departure media conference scheduled to be addressed by team manager Kapil Malhotra and captain Dhoni, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) sources said. The 15-member squad would be accompanied by Team Director Ravi Shastri, besides the retinue of support staff. The players would be arriving in the city in batches from Saturday night. READ: Mohammed Shami ruled out of Asia Cup 2016
Vice-captain Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Pawan Negi, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and young pacer Jasprit Bumrah are slated to arrive here on Saturday night. Veterans Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will touch down here on Sunday. India will start their Asia Cup engagements on February 24 by locking horns with hosts Bangladesh. READ: Asia Cup 2016: Why Bhuvneshwar Kumar and not Barinder Sran?
The final is slated for March 6. All the matches would be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. The Asia Cup 2016 will the the first edition where the tournament will be played in a 20-over format. This was done keeping in mind the ICC World T20 2016, which starts from March 8 in India. India, former champions will look to win this tournament, which will give them the momentum going into the World Cup. India completed a whitewash on their previous T20I series, which was against Australia.
