Dhoni, Fletcher avoid media before departure for WT20!

The under-fire Indian cricket team, which lost the disastrous tours of South Africa and New Zealand, left for Bangladesh to participate in the ICC World Twenty20 Championships without holding the customary pre-departure press conference.

This is the first time that captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher have left for an ICC event without addressing the media.

However, Fletcher was conspicuous by his absence as the team left Indian shores on Friday.

Speculation is rife that Fletcher had been summoned by BCCI chief N Srinivasan to explain the team's poor results. 

Last year, Dhoni and Fletcher had addressed a controversial press conference before the Champions Trophy in England. Dhoni had remained mum on the IPL corruption scandal  during that interaction.

Virat Kohli, who had captained the team in Dhoni's absence in the Asia Cup, had also not addressed a pre-departure press conference before leaving for the tournament in Bangladesh.

The former champions open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on March 21 at Mirpur in a Super 10 game and then take on the West Indies on March 23 at the same venue.

The ICC World Twenty20 scheduled from March 16 to April 6.