The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season comes to an end with four teams fighting for the coveted trophy. Now the focus is on the World Test Championship final which is going to be held in London next month between Team India and Australia. The BCCI has decided to send the players to the venue at the earliest and the first batch of the Indian cricket team has already left for London.
The likes of Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj and more are among the first batch of players leaving for the much-anticipated red-ball clash. Thakur posted the picture on his story and captioned it, “Outbound.” (World Test Championship final: Everything you wanted to know about the WTC final IND vs AUS)
National duty is calling!
: IG/Shardul Thakur pic.twitter.com/To8jmTdIRF— Kolkata Knight Riders (@KKRiders) May 23, 2023
Earlier, reports suggested that Virat Kohli is also set to leave for London after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ended their IPL campaign with a loss against Gujarat Titans on Sunday. However, there is no confirmation whether Virat has left for London or on what date he will be leaving for the venue.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been in fine form playing county cricket for Sussex, is already in England. He will be joined by Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, KS Bharat and Ajinkya Rahane, who will join the squad after completing their IPL commitments.
India’s upcoming WTC final appearance is their second entry in the prestigious event. In the 2021 final at Lord’s, they lost against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand. A win in the final would not only provide redemption but also secure India’s first ICC trophy since their triumph in the 2013 Champions Trophy under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. (Australia have slight advantage over India in WTC 2023 final, says Ricky Ponting)
Indian team for WTC final
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (Week).
Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.