Virat Kohli is among the first players travelling to London for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final. The tournament will be held at The Oval from June 7-11.
India and Australia are competing in the WTC final. India have selected a strong team to represent them in England. Unfortunately, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are unavailable due to injury.
Kohli will be joined by Mohammed Siraj, his teammate from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Yesterday, their team was eliminated from the IPL. R Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Shardul Thakur will join the team on the flight. The team's support staff will be led by Rahul Dravid.
"There will be two or three departures in total. The first batch leaves at 4.30 am tomorrow," a BCCI source told PTI.
Six players will stay back in India for the IPL playoffs. They are: - Rohit Sharma (skipper) - Ishan Kishan - Shubman Gill - Mohammed Shami - KS Bharat - Ajinkya Rahane. Another player Cheteshwar Pujara is already playing county cricket with Sussex in England.
Most of the main players on the side will enter the tournament's playoffs. Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants finished in the top four.
The first group will leave on May 23, as soon as the league stage of the IPL comes to an end. The second batch will depart after the playoffs, which are on May 23 and 24. The final batch will go on May 30, after the final game on Sunday, May 28.
The BCCI is in talks with a team in the UK. They plan to organise a practice match for Team India before the final battle. The WTC final against Australia will go on from from June 7 to 12.
Among the Australians, only three players were a part of the cash-rich league. India, who finished runners-up in 2021, will be aiming to win their first ICC trophy in 10 years.
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