The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday unveiled a brand new jersey of which the Indian cricket team will be donning at the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the UAE and Oman from October 17.
The new kit is called the ‘Billion Cheers Jersey’ and will replace the 1992 World Cup pattern-like jersey the team had been donning since late 2020.
“Presenting the Billion Cheers Jersey! The patterns on the jersey are inspired by the billion cheers of the fans,” the BCCI tweeted, while uploading an image of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah sporting the new kit.
The jersey has been launched by MPL Sports, the official kit sponsors of Team India.
“This isn’t just a Team, they are the pride of India. This isn’t just a jersey, it is the blessing of a billion fans. Get ready to cheer for Team India,” MPL tweeted.
In September, the ICC had launched the T20 World Cup anthem, which includes the animated versions of Team India skipper Virat Kohli, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan.
Before beginning their campaign in the upcoming T20 World Cup, the Virat Kohli-led Team India will play a couple of warm-up games against England and Australia.
Although the Indian players have received sufficient exposure and have acclimatized to the conditions in the UAE after playing for their respective franchises in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the warm-up matches will help them get their rhythm back together as a unit.
India will first take on England on October 18 before taking on Australia on October 20.
While the first warm-up game will begin at 19:30 IST, the second one will start at 15:30 IST. Both the matches, which will be held in Dubai, will broadcasted live on Star Sports.
Notably, all the eight teams, who have secured qualification for Round 2 of the showpiece event, will play warm-up matches ahead of the main competition.
While the qualifiers will get underway from October 17 in Oman, the main tournament will begin from October 23 in the UAE in which Australia will be up against South Africa.
Team India, led by Kohli, will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.
The Men In Blue, placed in the second group, will next face New Zealand on October 31 at the same venue before facing Afghanistan on November 3 in Abu Dhabi.
India will then take on the two of the four qualifiers on November 5 and 8 in Dubai.
The two semifinals will be held on November 10 and November 11 with the final to be played on November 14.