Cold food & 42km jaunt for practice? Big row over shoddy fare for Team India at World Cup

Team India's confidence will be sky-high following their win over Pakistan in their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2022. Following the victory over arch-rivals in Melbourne on Sunday, the Men in Blue are in Sydney as they prepare themselves for their second match against the Netherlands on Thursday. However, ahead of the SCG encounter, Team India players are in the headlines over 'inadequate' food arrangements and practice venues.

T20 World Cup: Team India say no to practice sessions, boycott lunch

According to an ANI report, a BCCI source has said that Team India did not do practice sessions ahead of the match against the Netherlands since it was 42km away from the hotel where they are currently residing. As per the report, the venue offered for practice was in Blacktown which is in the suburbs of Sydney.  

If the problems with the training venue were not enough, Team India players were also unhappy with the food being served to them. The BCCI source while speaking to the same news agency said that the food offered to members of Team India was not good as the post-practice menu reportedly included custom sandwiches. 

They were just given sandwiches and they have also told ICC that food provided after a practice session in Sydney was "cold and not good". Notably, International Cricket Council (ICC) is providing food during the T20 World Cup 2022. However, in bilateral series, the host association is in charge of food.

Team India players have an intense training session 

Even after winning the nail-biting clash against Pakistan, India players continued to keep a high-intensity level as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda were all back at the SCG nets for a solid two-hour session. The entire bowling unit (save R Ashwin), along with all-rounder Pandya, was given complete rest.

India will play the Netherlands at Sydney Cricket Ground on October 27. While the Netherlands are not expected to provide a tough challenge, Rohit Sharma will be wary of the threat that the Dutch could pose considering that they took the game close against Bangladesh. 

Despite the win against Pakistan, Team India still has issues to address especially with their top order with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma failing to fire. Axar Patel and Suryakumar Yadav also had a poor outing. With the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishabh Pant and Deepak Hooda waiting in the wings, the players included in the playing XI for the Pakistan match will have to be on their toes and start contributing towards the team's success.