1,000 dabbawallahs in Mumbai on Tuesday expressed their support for Team India ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup starting from June 1 onwards in West Indies and USA, by wearing the team jerseys.
A large group of dabbawallahs, a cultural icon in Mumbai, which keeps the whole city going with its impeccable food and delivery facilities, dressed in Blue colours and shouted ‘India! India!’ as the team prepares for its first clash against Ireland on June 5.
Ashok, one of the dabbawallahs said to ANI, “I feel proud while wearing this jersey. The World Cup is coming. We dabbawallahs are wearing this jersey to express our support. Our team is strong, Rohit (Sharma) and Virat (Kohli) will showcase their magic and India will bring the cup home. There are 1,000 dabbawallahs in Mumbai working and they are all wearing the jerseys today.”
Another dabbawallah named Nakul said, “India should win the World Cup. That is why we are wearing this jersey. We will pray that India wins the WC.”
India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign on June 5 against Ireland at the newly constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The much-anticipated clash between India and Pakistan is scheduled for June 9. Following this, India will face tournament co-hosts USA on June 12 and Canada on June 15 to conclude their Group A fixtures.
In this tournament, India aims to break their ICC trophy drought, with their last triumph being the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Since then, India has reached various finals and semifinals, including the 50-over World Cup final in 2023, semifinals in 2015 and 2019, the title match of the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, the T20 World Cup final in 2014, and semifinals in 2016 and 2022, yet they have been unable to secure a major ICC trophy.
India will be aiming to win their first T20 WC title since they won the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2007 in South Africa. In the last edition held in Australia in 2022, India lost to England by 10 wickets in the semifinals.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.