Virat Kohli & R Ashwin to travel later, Rahul Dravid & Co reach London for 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. 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. Follow India vs Australia World Test Championship Final LIVE Updates with InsideSport.IN.

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

Virat Kohli suffered heartbreak on Sunday as Royal Challengers Bangalore were 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.

Also Read: WTC Final 2023: ‘Am aging…’ R Ashwin shuts down injury talks ahead of IND vs AUS Oval finale

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

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.

“Yes, Jaydev is traveling with the team. He is nearing the completion of his rehab. But he is yet to be a match fit. He has begun low-intensity bowling. But we are hopeful that he will be okay by the next week or so,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.

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.

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 at a consistent basis and have 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 had said.

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.

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