On Tuesday, May 23, a large number of Indian players, including Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj, will depart for England to prepare for the World Test Championship final against Australia. Other players, including captain Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Shami, will depart India following the IPL 2023 tournament. Even though the date has not been set in stone, it is anticipated that it will be at the end of May.
On May 21, the team of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj, Royal Challengers Bangalore, was eliminated from the lucrative league after a six-wicket loss to the Gujarat Titans.
In just two days, the cricketers will depart for England to acclimate to the conditions and receive the necessary preparation time. Team India’s net bowlers Akash Deep, Aniket Choudhury, and Yarra Prithviraj, along with reserve athlete Mukesh Kumar, will also be traveling to the tournament.
Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s red-ball batting maestro, has already arrived in England and has been playing superb cricket in Division 2 of the County Championship. He is also leading Sussex this season, but will abandon the tournament in the middle of the week to join the national team.
Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat have been declared healthy to travel to England.
According to a report by Sportstar, both Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat are healthy enough to travel to England and participate in the finals. Notably, both pacers were ailing from injuries, as Unadkat was ruled out of the tournament and Umesh did not play in the second half of the tournament for KKR. However, they have since been deemed healthy and will depart for England on Tuesday.
Significantly, the WTC final will commence at London’s Oval on June 7. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have already arrived in England and are competing in the County Championship, while the rest of the team is anticipated to arrive shortly.