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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Blast outside BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia’s residence triggers panic in Jalandhar
Chandigarh: A loud blast was reported outside the residence of senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar, Punjab, around 1 am on Monday, sparking panic in the area.
According to the police, no one was injured in the incident. The blast occurred near Shastri Market, close to Kalia’s house. Forensic teams have arrived at the scene to collect evidence and determine the nature of the explosion.
Jalandhar Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur said the investigation is underway to ascertain whether it was a grenade attack or caused by another explosive device. CCTV footage from the vicinity is also being examined to trace the culprits.
Kalia, a former Cabinet minister and ex-president of the Punjab BJP, was reportedly at home at the time of the incident.
This incident comes amid a series of similar blasts reported across Punjab in recent months, including explosions targeting police posts in Amritsar and Gurdaspur, and one outside a temple in Amritsar last month.
