Watch: First batch of Indian players depart for US ahead of T20 World Cup

The first batch of Indian cricketers, including skipper Rohit Sharma, on Saturday departed for United States ahead of the T20 World Cup beginning on June 2.

Apart from Rohit, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav, head coach Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour and few other players left from Mumbai airport. Other players in the travelling contingent include Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel among others.

Few players, including star batter Virat Kohli, who are part of the IPL teams which reached the playoffs, are yet to leave for the T20 showpiece.

While Rajasthan Royals had beaten Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator on Wednesday, they suffered a loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on Friday night.

SRH will face Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.

Thus, players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal have not joined the team yet.

The T20 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the USA and the West Indies from June 2 to June 29.

The Indian cricket team will begin its campaign against Ireland on June 5 at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

India will face Pakistan on June 9, followed by matches against co-hosts USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15) in their Group A matches.

India had won the inaugural edition way back in 2007 in South Africa.