The Indian cricket team will open its ICC men’s T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24. While India will be under the leadership of Virat Kohli, the team’s morale got a morale-boosting injection in the form of MS Dhoni, who was named mentor for the squad.

Since the inaugural edition of the World T20 in 2007, India has not been able to put on a dominant or memorable performance in the tournament. This time around, with most of the players in form, the Men in Blue will be looking to lift the elusive title.

The second edition of the World T20 was held in England and was won by Pakistan. The 2010 edition was won by England and the 2012 edition that was hosted by Sri Lanka was won by the West Indies.

Bangladesh hosted the 2014 edition and Sri Lanka saw off India to bring the title home. The 2016 edition saw the West Indies lift the trophy for the second time.

The latest edition of the World Cup was moved out of India to the United Arab Emirates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the IPL, too, being played in the same region, it could prove to be a warm-up tournament for the players before they enter the grand tournament.

Full India squad:

Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur

Full fixture of India:

October 24: India vs Pakistan, Dubai (6 pm IST)

October 31: India vs New Zealand, Dubai (6 pm IST)

November 3: India vs Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi (6 pm IST)

November 5: India vs B1, Dubai (6 pm IST)

November 8: India vs A2, Dubai (6 pm IST)

KNOCK-OUT STAGE

November 10: Semi-final 1 (A1 vs B2), Abu Dhabi (6 pm IST)

November 11: Semi-final 2 (B1 vs A2), Dubai (6 pm IST)

November 14: Final, Dubai (6 pm IST)