The Indian squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final will leave for the United Kingdom in three batches.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are also trying to organise a practice match for the team so that they can get accustomed to the conditions before they take on Australia in the WTC final, which will take place at the Oval in London from June 7-11.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, the first set of players will leave on May 23, as soon as the league stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is completed. This batch will comprise players who won't be featuring in the IPL knockouts.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin (Rajasthan Royals), Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals), and Shardul Thakur (Kolkata Knight Riders) are likely to form the first batch. Mukesh Kumar (DC), who is on standby, may also leave with them.
Click here for Australia's WTC Final squad
Meanwhile, the second batch will leave after the two play-offs on May 23 and 24. Whereas the final group of players will fly on May 30 after the final of IPL on May 28, which will be held in the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
However, the bulk of the squad including key players like skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and others like Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav and Ruturaj Gaikwad will leave depending on their team's progress in the IPL playoffs.
Rahane returned to the Indian team after a gap of 17 months after impressive performances in the Ranji Trophy and IPL 2023.
The Mumbai-based batsman scored 634 runs in seven Ranji Trophy matches in the 2022-23 season. In IPL 2023, Rahane has scored 209 runs in 5 matches thus far and maintained a strike rate of 199.04.
MORE: Latest IPL 2023 betting and odds
India had reached the final of the inaugural edition of the WTC in 2021 but lost to New Zealand by eight wickets.
