The Indian team will only play one warmup game before the T20 World Cup 2024. The tournament will be played in the West Indies and the USA from June 1-29. Earlier, the Indian team used to traditionally prepare with two warmup matches before any ICC event.
Aside from India, the other two teams will be England and Pakistan, who will allegedly play one practice match apiece, with the remaining players receiving two warmup matches.
England and Pakistan will enter the competition after playing each other in a bilateral series that ends on May 30, leaving little time for them to play two practice games. The United States and the West Indies will co-host the Twenty20 World Cup.
India’s warm-up games have significant commercial value and are always broadcast because there are plenty of opportunities to profit from the large viewership. So much so that, in 2015, an India-Australia warm-up game in Adelaide before the ODI World Cup was broadcast in India but not Australia.
According to the ICC, the schedule for the warm-up matches will be revealed soon.
The reason why India will get only one warm-up game before the T20 World Cup 2024
As per reports in Cricbuzz, the exact reason for the solitary match is not yet clearly known, but BCCI has insisted on holding the warm-up game in New York.
On the other hand, The organizers, ICC and Cricket West Indies have recommended holding the match in Florida, where India would face Canada on Saturday, June 15. However, the Indian team will be based in New York and will travel to the Windies for the Super 8 stage following the Canada match.
The Indian cricketers, who are tired of traveling from India to the United States and the IPL 2024, which ends on May 26, have refused to fly from New York to Florida and back for a single warm-up game. The one-way travel takes approximately two hours and 45 minutes.
Except for Pakistan and England, the majority of the other teams have scheduled two warm-up matches each. Pakistan will tour England for four T20Is, which will end on May 30.
The main tournament begins on June 1, implying that warm-up matches could take place between May 25 and 26, 10-11 days from now. The IPL 2024 final is scheduled on May 26.
The Indian squad was scheduled to depart for New York on May 21, after the conclusion of the IPL league stage. But according to the report in Cricbuzz, the squad will depart in two batches, on May 25 and 26.
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