Virat Kohli checks in at Team India’s hotel in New York after 16-hour-long flight, will be resting: Report

Virat Kohli joined the Indian squad in New York on Friday after a 16-hour flight, but doubts remain over his participation in the warm-up match against Bangladesh on Saturday. Kohli could not take part in India’s optional practice session. He checked in at the hotel and decided to rest. “Virat Kohli has checked in at the team hotel, and after a long flight, he will be taking a rest,” a senior BCCI source told PTI.

Having travelled for 16 hours to reach the ‘Big Apple’, his participation in the practice match will depend on how Kohli feels and if he is willing to have a hit against the Bangladesh side at the Nassau County Cricket Ground.

Kohli has scored 741 runs in 15 IPL games. He doesn’t need much match practice, and he will still get three quality net sessions before the first game against Ireland on June 5.

On Friday morning, there was an optional training session in which Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, and Mohammed Siraj sweated it out under the guidance of the support staff.

Kohli landed in New York on Friday evening (Indian time) and will get busy preparing for the tournament. “Honestly I never thought we would be playing cricket in any form in the states (USA), but now it’s a reality,” Kohli said in a video shared by US Consulate Mumbai on X (formerly Twitter).

“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,” he said, before his departure from India to link up with his national team-mates in New York.

Terming it as a ‘great start’, Kohli hoped that the T20 World Cup in the Americas will set off a domino effect as the game’s governing body ICC aims to promote and expand cricket in other parts of the world.

“It’s a great start. It’s the ideal way to begin and it’s going to have a huge impact. In starting off, a kind of a domino effect and I hope it carries on for a long period of time,” he said.

Kohli also said that people from South Asian region residing in the Americas are capable enough to take forward the momentum.

“We have enough people from our regions to keep the game up and alive in the States and make the others more aware about what it feels like to play and watch cricket,” he said.

“It’s got great potential, with the MLC (Major League Cricket) as well. There is already franchise cricket happening there. It’s moving in the right direction,” said Kohli, referring to the T20 league which recently got List A status from the ICC ahead of its second season.