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India head coach Rahul Dravid slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the practice facilities provided to the team for the T20 World Cup 2024 in New York. ICC provided Cantiague Park for Rohit Sharma & Co. as their practice venue for the marquee event. India will play their opener clash against Ireland scheduled to be played at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium which is about five miles away from the practice park.
"It's a bit strange to be practicing in a park," said Dravid ahead of India's World Cup opener against Ireland on Wednesday. "Obviously at the World Cups you'd be in big stadiums or you'd be at cricket stadiums traditionally. But you know, we're at a public park and practicing," he added with a smile of sarcasm.
India recently beat Bangladesh by 60 runs in their only warm-up match to start their proceedings in the marquee event.
No buzz for the World Cup in the USA
Dravid revealed that the buzz of the World Cup is different in the USA because cricket is not the major sport of the country. He is confident that Indian fans will come and cheer up for their team.
"Yeah, obviously it's slightly different. It's obviously exciting that it's coming to a new country, it's coming to a new place. (It) feels slightly different in terms of, I guess, typically the buzz that you have around these events, with cricket not being one of the major sports in this country. So you don't feel that kind of buzz over here. But hopefully once our games start and a lot of the Indian fans do start coming in, you start seeing that similar kind of excitement.
This T20 World Cup will be the last stint for India's head coach Rahul Dravid. He was roped in with the Indian team as a coach in November 2021 after Ravi Shastri's tenure.
Indian's Team schedule in New York
Rohit Sharma-led India will play three matches in New York's Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. The first match will be against Ireland on June 5. The high-profile India versus Pakistan clash will also be played at the same venue on June 9 and the third match will be against the USA on June 12.
India's Squad for T20 World Cup 2024
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.
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