Kohli among first batch of players to leave for WTC final
New Delhi (PTI): Virat Kohli will be among the first batch of India players to leave for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in London, departing in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Mohammad Siraj will also board the same flight, a day after their team was knocked out of the IPL. Spinners R Ashwin and Axar Patel, and all-rounder Shardul Thakur, will also be on the flight as well as the team's support staff led by Rahul Dravid.
The final will be played at the Oval from June 7-11.
"There will be two or three departures in total. The first batch leaves at 4.30 am tomorrow," said a BCCI source.
The players who will stay back in India for the IPL playoffs include skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Mohammad Shami, K S 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.
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Adani inaugurates AI centre of excellence in Baramati
Baramati (PTI): Industrialist Gautam Adani inaugurated the Sharadchandra Pawar Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence at Baramati in Maharashtra's Pune district on Sunday.
The centre of excellence, funded by the Adani Group chairman, has been established under Vidya Pratishthan, the educational institute governed by the Pawar family.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his wife and Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar and other members of the extended Pawar family were present on the occasion.
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NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar and Yugendra Pawar, who is the treasurer of Vidya Pratisthan, were present.
Adani had visited Baramati, the home turf of the Pawar family, in 2022 to attend the inauguration of the Science and Innovation Activity Centre in the town, about 110 km from Pune. The relationship between Pawar and Adani goes back nearly two decades.
#WATCH | Baramati, Maharashtra | Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and Maharashtra DY CM Ajit Pawar light a lamp at the inauguration event of Sharad Pawar Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence.
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2025
(Source: Adani Group) pic.twitter.com/m4VP1aByvw
