img

WTC Final: Virat Kohli and Ashwin along with Umesh will travel at a later, Rahul Dravid & Co reach London

Sarita Dey
1 year ago

WTC Final: The first batch of Team India stars has reached London for WTC Final 2023. However, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin along with Umesh Yadav will travel at a later date. On Tuesday morning, the support staff along with head coach Rahul Dravid besides Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur departed from Mumbai.

Read more: Ugly comments about Virat Kohli’s fan Shubman Gill and his sister, now action will be taken

WTC Final: Kohli and others will join them in a day or two

Virat Kohli & R Ashwin to travel later, Rahul Dravid & Co reach London for WTC  Final 2023

Kohli and others will join them in a day or two. The rest of the team will leave as and when they are free. The final batch will leave for London on May 30 including players who will appear in the IPL 2023 Final on May 28.

Siraj, Axar among first batch of Indian contingent to leave for WTC final |  Cricbuzz.com

“There may be departures every day till May 30. Logistics arrangements are being made for almost every day,” Cricbuzz quoted a BCCI source.

Virat Kohli suffered heartbreak on Sunday

Devastated Kohli smashes water bottle, Siraj stock-still after GT's  stunning win denied RCB of playoff

Virat Kohli suffered heartbreak on Sunday as Royal Challengers Bangalore was ousted from the IPL playoff race. With RCB out, Mohammed Siraj, Kohli’s RCB teammate will also join him on the flight.

“There will be two or three departures in total. The first batch leaves at 4.30 am tomorrow,” PTI quoted a BCCI source.

Read more: GT vs CSK Dream11 Prediction Today with Playing XI, Pitch Report, Player Stats & Overall Stats

WTC Final 2023: Jaydev Unadkat to travel with the first batch

Unadkat runs riot with 88-yr-old Ranji Trophy first, ducks gallore, Delhi  10/7 | Cricket - Hindustan Times

While there had been doubts regarding Jaydev Unadkat’s fitness, he will travel to London with the first batch. Unadkat is recovering from a shoulder injury. He will be monitored by the BCCI Medical team in London and any call regarding his availability will be taken at a later date.

Cheteshwar Pujara is already playing county cricket in England

Captain' Cheteshwar Pujara slams 3rd double ton in 7 games for Sussex |  Cricket News - Times of India

The players who will stay back in India for the IPL playoffs include skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Mohammad Shami, KS Bharat, and Ajinkya Rahane. Cheteshwar Pujara is already playing county cricket in England.

While the majority of the Indian team players are going into the title clash after two months of IPL, only three WTC-bound Australians played in the richest T20 league.

Ponting said the Aussies will be mentally better prepared for the final

Last week, the great Ricky Ponting said the Aussies will be mentally better prepared for the final but the Indians will have valuable game time behind them.

“There are two ways to look at this. For someone like Virat, is he better off playing now and scoring runs on a consistent basis and having confidence going into a game rather than the Australians back home who haven’t been playing much cricket but will be mentally better prepared,” Ponting

India, who finished runners-up in 2021, will be aiming to win their first ICC trophy in 10 years

India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).

Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav