Star England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow expressed his frustration with the team’s trip to India for the much-awaited ICC Cricket World Cup that lasted more than 38 hours. The Jos Buttler-led side began their trip on Wednesday to take part in the marquee event.
Despite leaving England more than 38 hours ago, Bairstow vented on his official social media account about having his side still on the plane.
The 34-year-old shared a picture of the England squad and members on his Instagram story. In addition, he described the journey as “utter chaos” and added, “Last leg incoming… been some trip,” concluding with an emoji of a laughing face. The time was 21:21 local time, and he added, “38 hours and counting…” after that. Nevertheless, England arrived in India this morning (September 29).
England will play their two warm-up matches against India and Bangladesh on September 30 and October 2, respectively. Both the games will be contested at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. The defending champions will begin their World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 5 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which will be a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final.
The Matthew Mott-coached side will be seeking to round off their practice sessions with wins in the warm-up matches. Notably, the defending champions are the fifth-best team in the world, trailing only South Africa, India, Pakistan, and Australia.
England play eight of their nine games at various locations- Kolkata, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Dharamsala, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Mumbai. The only two locations England won’t visit during their nine group-stage games are Chennai and Hyderabad.
England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.