T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and coach Rahul Dravid give up BUSINESS CLASS seats for team pacers

Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and coach Rahul Dravid gave up their business class seats on the flight from Melbourne to Adelaide so that pace bowlers Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could travel comfortably.

Team India pacer Mohammed Shami celebrates after picking up a wicket against Zimbabwe in their Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup 2022. (Photo: ANI)

The Indian cricket team has shown plenty of camaraderie during the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. Rohit Sharma’s side have stormed into the semifinal stage and will take on Jos Buttler’s England in the second semifinal clash at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday (November 10).

Travelling has been a huge burden for most teams in the T20 World Cup 2022 with matches held all across the Australian continent. Teams have taken domestic flights up to five hours in duration to travel between different venues.

All the teams are allotted four business class seats on a domestic flight by the International Cricket Council (ICC) which are generally reserved for captain, head coach and senior members of the team. In India’s case, the seats are generally reserved for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and head coach Rahul Dravid.

However, according to an Indian Express report, Rohit, Kohli and Dravid gave up their business class seats on the flight from Melbourne to Adelaide so that pace bowlers Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could travel comfortably.

“Before the tournament, we decided that since the pace bowlers clock the maximum mileage on field day in, day out, they need to stretch their legs,” a support staff member of the Indian team told The Indian Express newspaper.

Touchdown Adelaide _#TeamIndia | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/absGUDySIK

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 7, 2022

According to the report, the decision was taken once the Indian team management became aware that they needed to travel every third or fourth day and the ‘hard-working pacers’ should get the best seats during the trip.

By the time Team India finishes their campaign, the team would have travelled around 34,000 km on this T20 World Cup 2022 journey. The Indian team’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey has spoken earlier about how they left no stone unturned to ensure the players were match-ready.

“We’ve pretty much thought out everything in terms of the planning, how we want to go about it, and from here on, every session that we have left is an optional one, so in terms of the maintenance, in terms of the physiotherapy, taking care of them, it’s important to have them in the best shape going into every game, and yeah, we’re taking care of that, as well,” Mhambrey had said.