Why Rohit Sharma and Co chose to train in Perth ahead of T20 World Cup? Coach explains

The Indian cricket team's strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai has explained why Rohit Sharma and Co flew down to Australia the day after they completed the T20I series against South Africa.

While many teams are playing bilateral series in the first and second weeks of October, in the lead up to the T20 World Cup 2022, Team India decided to head straight to Perth for their training sessions.

Rohit-led India reached Perth on Oct. 6 and the very next day, the players were spotted training at the iconic WACA Stadium. India are scheduled to play a couple of warm-up matches against a Western Australian XI on Oct. 10 and 13 before their official World Cup warm-ups get underway against Australia and New Zealand on Oct. 17 and 19.

In a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on social media, Desai explained that the players will make full use of the eight-day preparatory period to relax, get used to the conditions, and work towards the skillsets that will help them in the T20 World Cup, which is due to begin on Oct. 16.

It is understood that head coach Rahul Dravid wanted the players, who hadn't travelled to Australia before, enough time to adjust to the foreign conditions Down Under.

"The upcoming 8-10 days are going to be very crucial for us, leading into the World Cup. We can't thank the team management and the BCCI enough for getting us these 8 days because, we always feel we are thrust into the big tournaments, playing so much cricket as the Indian team. But these 8 days, we are going to gradually build ourselves both physically and on the skills front, to lead us nicely into the first game in the World Cup," Desai said in a video.

"The goal in Perth specifically is to get some time on these pitches as well as to break the monotony of playing the bilateral series, back to back in India. So it's going to be a good time for the group to unwind as well as build on the specific skills that are required for Australia. That's the overall plan, leading into the World Cup," he added.

The teams, including Team India, which earned an automatic qualification into the tournament will compete only from the Super 12 stage, which will go underway on Oct. 22. India are a part of Group 2 in the Super 12s, along with arch-rivals Pakistan, Bangladesh, and South Africa. Two more teams will be added to the group at the end of the group stage.

India's campaign opener on Oct. 23 is going to be a cracker they are set to take on Pakistan in front of a jam-packed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

After winning the inaugural edition in 2007, India are yet to win the T20 title. Last year, under Virat Kohli's captaincy, India even failed to qualify for the semi-final.

India's squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. Standby Players: Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.