Focus On Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli As Team India Arrives In Dubai Ahead Of Champions Trophy

The Indian team made its touch down in Dubai on Saturday, hoping to bag the ICC Champions Trophy, starting from February 18, for the second time since 2013. India had last won the ICC marquee event in England 12 years back under the legendary MS Dhoni. The players and support staff trooped into a waiting bus, in line with the new BCCI diktat of travelling as a group, before proceeding to the designated team hotel.

Earlier, dressed nattily in a white T-shirt and black tracks, Rohit Sharma got down from his car, and walked towards his teammates at the departure lounge amid loud calls of 'Rohit bhai' and 'Rohit sir' by fans waiting near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport entrance in Mumbai.

Most of the squad members arrived in the team bus including head coach Gautam Gambhir, vice-captain Shubman Gill and star batter Virat Kohli and the stars obliged some fans by signing autographs or waving at a few of them.

Soon, the team boarded an afternoon flight to Dubai amid heightened optimism of netting another global trophy after winning the T20 World Cup last June.

A Jasprit Bumrah-less India will open their campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 in Dubai before the much-anticipated blockbuster against traditional rivals Pakistan on February 23, and then the Men in Blue will take on New Zealand on March 2 to round off their league engagements.

The confidence -- of the fans and the team -- has been boosted by India's recent 3-0 ODI series whitewash at home over England.

Those supporters assembled at the Mumbai airport will be hoping that the icons, led by Rohit and Kohli, will pull off another triumph like they did in the West Indies last year.

One last opportunity for greats?

Few months ago, Hardik Pandya