India showcased a dominating performance against Bangladesh in their only warm-up game for the T20 World Cup 2024 on Saturday in New York. Batting first, India posted a whopping total of 182/5 in 20 overs with Rishabh Pant scoring 53 off 32 balls. Later, Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Dube bowled brilliant spells as India restricted Bangladesh to 122/9 and won the match by 60 runs. This warm-up game turned out to be a great practice for India before the beginning of the group stage. But, Virat Kohli wasn’t a part of the squad for the game.
Kohli was the only Indian player from the 15-member squad, who did not feature in the warm-up match. Kohli had joined India’s squad on Friday night and was given rest after a hectic, 16-hour-long flight.
Despite not playing the match, Kohli grabbed a lot of attention after a video of him, showing his six-pack abs, went viral on social media. The right-handed batter, who is widely popular for his exemplary fitness, left the fans awestruck with his charm.
Kohli saab's six abs pic.twitter.com/kYvQImAcU3
— H. (@cmoncheeeks) June 1, 2024
Apart from this, Kohli also received his ICC ODI Player of the Year award and was also selected for ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year 2023 in New York.
The 35-year-old witnessed another massive peak of his illustrious career in 2023, after some years of inconsistent form and struggle for massive scores. In 27 ODIs, he scored 1,377 runs at an average of 72.47 and a strike rate of 99.13, with six centuries and eight fifties in 24 innings. His best score was 166*.
He played a big role in India's Asia Cup 2023 triumph, scoring an unbeaten 122* in 94 balls against arch-rivals Pakistan in a crucial Super Four stage game.
Later on in the ODI World Cup held last year at home, Virat delivered an all-timer campaign, scoring 765 runs in 11 matches at an average of 95.62, with three centuries, six half-centuries and the best score of 117.
Talking about Team India, the Rohit Sharma-led side will be opening their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland on June 4.
(With ANI Inputs)