T20 World Cup: Why Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya did not travel to USA with remaining India squad?

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T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya were the key players missing as the first batch of Indian cricket team members for the T20 World Cup 2024 left for the USA on Saturday.

While Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson were part of the IPL 2024 playoffs, Hardik Pandya's Mumbai played their last match on May 17. Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah - the two other Mumbai Indians players - left with the first batch which also included captain Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube.

The Indian Express has reported that Virat Kohli has taken a mini-break after his IPL 2024 campaign with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

He had informed the BCCI about it well in advance, and the board had therefore also kept his visa paperworks appointment at a later date. Kohli is likely to fly out on Tuesday, May 30. He will be racing against time to play the warm-up match against Bangladesh on June 1.

“Kohli had informed us way beforehand that he will be joining the team late and that is why the BCCI has kept his visa appointment for a later date. He is expected to fly out to New York in the early morning of May 30th. The BCCI has agreed to his request,” a BCCI official told The Indian Express.

The report added that Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson took the permission to complete his 'personal work’ in Dubai before leaving for New York, USA. The board had also accepted the request for Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya.

Journalist Vimal Kumar on his YouTube channel revealed that Hardik Pandya was in London, and will join India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad very soon in the USA.

The second batch of players including Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yuzvendra Chahal and Avesh Khan are expected to leave on May 27, Monday. Notably, India will face Bangladesh in their only warm-up match on June 1. They will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5.