Virat Kohli will be one of the first batch of Indian players to leave for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in London, departing in the early hours of Tuesday. Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Mohammad Siraj will also board the same flight, a day after their team was knocked out of the IPL. Spinners R Ashwin and Axar Patel, and all-rounder Shardul Thakur, will also be on the run, as will the team’s support staff led by Rahul Dravid. The final will be played at the Oval from June 7-11.
“There will be two or three departures in total. The first group will leave tomorrow at 4:30 am,” said a BCCI source.
The players who will remain in India for the IPL playoffs are skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Mohammad Shami, KS Bharat and Ajinkya Rahane.
Cheteshwar Pujara already plays county cricket in England.
While the majority of Indian team players enter title contention after two months of IPL, only three WTC-bound Australians played in the richest T20 league.
.@imVkohli know what it takes to get to glory! Join him and Team India as they put on their match faces for the #WTCFinalOnStar!
Tune in to the final of the 2023 ICC World Test Championship #INDvAUS
June 7 from 2 p.m. | Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar.#BelieveInBlue #Cricket pic.twitter.com/Us9y4xIDmL
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 22, 2023
Last week, the great Ricky Ponting said the Aussies will be mentally better prepared for the Finals, but the Indians will have valuable playing time behind them.
“There are two ways to look at this. Is it better for someone like Virat to play now and score points on a consistent basis and go into a game with confidence than the Australians at home, who haven’t played much cricket but will be better mentally prepared,” Ponting had said.
India, who finished second in 2021, is aiming to win their first ICC trophy in 10 years.
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