Members of the Indian team were seeing enjoying some time off in New York. (Instagram)
Security arrangements for Team India have been beefed up after the ISIS threat and heavy security was deployed for the side’s warm-up game vs Bangladesh.
India played their only warm-up vs Bangladesh amid a lot of security at the Nassau Country International Cricket Stadium and arrangements have been tightened after the ISIS threat in the high-octane clash between India and Pakistan.
The threat, however, has not affected the movement of Indian players in and around New York, and the team hasn’t received any directive from the security agencies. The first batch of Indian players arrived on May 26 and they have been comfortably exploring the area since then. Numerous cricketers have gone for long walks, visited the iconic Times Square, had outdoor lunches, and haven’t faced any issues about their safety.
“No directive has been issued to the players and they can normally roam about in New York. Security has been brilliant ever since the team has landed and it was excellent during the warm-up game too,” says a source close to developments.
Even during the warm-up game, there was an incident where a spectator entered the field to meet Rohit Sharma and he was taken down by the security officials in no time. Even Rohit gestured for the security to go easy on the spectator but they were not going to take any chance.
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Nassau’s police commissioner has assured that the venue for the India-Pakistan clash will be the safest place to be in the county on June 9.
“I can guarantee you this — the safest place to be in Nassau County on June 9th will be inside that stadium,” Patrick J Ryder told CNN on the ISIS-K-linked threats.
Rest day for Team India
After the win over Bangladesh in their only warm-up, Team India is enjoying their day off as there was no practice scheduled for the players. There have been three training sessions for the squad since their arrival in two batches and Virat Kohli was the last player to join the squad.
Kohli was rested from the warm-up fixture because he reached New York on the eve of the clash and management felt it was better to allow his body to recover from the travel fatigue of a long flight.
“Virat just arrived yesterday (May 31), he’s going to miss out, the rest are all available and we’ll see how to use them,” Rohit Sharma had said at the toss.
India comfortably won the fixture and the biggest positives for the side were Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya’s outings in the middle. It was a good show by the bowlers and Arshdeep Singh’s control in the powerplay would do his confidence a world of good before India’s tournament opener vs Ireland.
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