ICC Champions Trophy 2017: India’s opening batsman Rohit Sharma and middle order batsman Kedar Jadhav did not board the flight to the United Kingdom with the rest of their teammates on Wednesday night.
Team India watched Sachin: The Film’s premier show in Mumbai before leaving for England, where all the members of the team, including Virat Kohli who came later with his girlfriend Anushka Sharma. It was a star-studded affair as stars from all sects of the society were present at the world premier of Master Blaster’s biopic.
However, after the premier, when Team India headed towards the airport to leave for England, Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav were missing.
A board official told the media that Rohit Sharma had put forth a request to the BCCI sometime back, seeking a few days of leave to attend a cousin’s wedding while Kesar Jadhav could not take the flight since his visa did not arrive on time.
“His (Jadhav) visa is cleared now and he is expected to leave on Friday. We waited for it earlier but nothing happened till late on Wednesday evening. Both players will be available for first warm-up game on May 28.
“Rohit Sharma had made his request a long time back. So the BCCI agreed to the request,” a board official said.
Team India will defend their title in England, which they won under MS Dhoni’s captaincy in 2013. It will not be an easy journey as teams around the world are well prepared for the tournament. India are scheduled to play two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh at the Oval on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
More to follow…
