Soham Desai, the team’s strength and conditioning coach provided an idea of the routine being followed by the players, who have all been part of the grind at IPL 2024 over the past couple of months and are easing into match-readiness. “Eased into our routines here, the idea was to just get used to the time zone,” he said in a video posted by the BCCI on social media.
The players warmed up, went for runs, did some basic strength-and-conditioning work, and did some drills with a football.
“They have been away for two-and-a-half months from us [the national team setup]. Just getting them together to know where they stand, what needs to be done before the World Cup was the goal,” Desai said of the Tuesday session. “[The] goal is to spend 45 minutes to an hour there on the park to again get going.
“We want to see them move. We want to see them run so that we can put enough plans in place for each guy to be ready for the first game.
Hardik, who took a short break after the IPL before linking up with the team, seemed excited to be playing in a new part of the world, talking up “the good vibe”, while Ravindra Jadeja was expecting to have “super, super fun”, and Suryakumar Yadav felt the first day out “was amazing”.
India’s first game at the World Cup will be on June 5, against Ireland, followed by group-stage fixtures against Pakistan on June 9, USA on June 12, and Canada on June 15. The first three games will be played in New York and the last in Lauderhill, Florida.