The Indian cricket team arrived in Thiruvananthapuram from Hyderabad to take part in the T20 match against South Africa. The men in blue landed in the state’s capital at 4.30 pm on Monday.
Fans, who gathered at the airport, were seen chanting slogans in praise of Malayali cricketer Sanju Samson among others. The team members were received at the airport by Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) officials and were accommodated at Raviz Hotel in Kovalam.
They will have their practice sessions on Tuesday. The match is scheduled to be held on September 28 ar Greenfield Stadium.
Earlier, Sanju Samson missed out on the flight to Australia as BCCI included Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant as wicketkeeping options. According to PTI’s BCCI source, Sanju Samson will get a place in the team for the ODI series.
Samson has played as few as 16 T20Is so far. He has scored 296 runs with a high score of 77 and an average of 21.14 runs.
The 27-year-old last played T20I against West Indies on August 7. He scored 15 runs off 11 deliveries before getting dismissed by Odean Smith.
Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players – Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar