Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer undertake an 11-hour road trip to join Team India in Ahmedabad

Given the restrictions and the mandatory protocols in place in present times due to the pandemic,  India stars Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer took an 11-hour road trip to Ahmedabad to join the team for the upcoming T20I series against England. India and England are currently involved in the ongoing four-match Test series.

It will be followed by five T20Is and three ODIs. The T20I series will start on March 12 in Ahmedabad and the entire series will be played at the same venue. With less than two weeks remaining for the series, the players have started joining the team in Ahmedabad. Dhawan and Iyer also followed suit on Tuesday although it was not easy for the duo.

At a time when avoiding the public modes of transport as much as possible has become the need of the hour, Dhawan and Iyer decided to reach Ahmedabad in a car. Both the batsmen were in Jaipur, playing for Delhi and Mumbai, respectively, in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021. Mumbai and Delhi secured the top two spots in the Elite Group D points table to progress to the next round.

Dhawan and Iyer will now miss their respective team’s knockout games in the 50-over competition because of Team India duties. Talking about their latest adventure, Iyer took to Instagram to reveal that he and Dhawan were going to Ahmedabad via road. He posted a story on the social media platform to update his fans about the trip and wrote: “11 hours drive to Ahmedabad. Let’s see if the smile stays for that long.”

Here is Shreyas Iyer’s Instagram story

Shardul Thakur’s road trip:

Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer are not the only Indian cricketers to take a road trip in recent times. Last month, Shardul Thakur had done the same to join the Mumbai team for the domestic tournament. Thakur was a part of the Indian Test squad but was released by the team-management ahead of the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad.

The cricketers are preferring the road trips for shorter distances in order to avoid quarantine. In case they use a public mode of transport, they will have to isolate themselves and return negative COVID-19 tests before joining the team. On the other hand, they can join the team directly from one bio-bubble to another if they avoid using public mode of transports.