Players from eliminated IPL teams could reach UK early for WTC final preparation – Rohit Sharma

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma feels the Test players who would not be part of the IPL 2023 playoffs could travel to England early to prepare for the World Test Championship final. India qualified for the WTC Final after winning the Test series against Australia by 2-1.

The WTC Final will be played at the Oval from June 7. On the other hand, the playoff stages of IPL 2023 will begin on May 21 and thus the players of the six teams, which will not qualify for the last four, can travel to the UK early.

In fact, India also qualified for the WTC Final in the first edition in 2021. However, they lost to New Zealand as they couldn’t prepare for the English conditions. On the other hand, the Kiwis had played two Test matches against England before the WTC final and thus they were better prepared.

“I don’t think it will be a huge problem but yeah, look I believe in preparation and preparations will be key for us come the finals. Around 21st May, there will be six teams who will possibly be out of IPL playoffs contention and so whichever players are available, we will try and find time to get them to the UK early as possible and get some time and we will monitor as much as possible,” Rohit said in the press-conference.

Barring Cheteshwar Pujara, all of India’s Test players will take part in the Indian Premier League, which will commence on March 31.

Rohit revealed that they will be sending Dukes balls to their fast bowlers to prepare for the English conditions.

“Look, I think it’s quite critical for us, we’re going to keep in constant touch with all players who are going to play that final and monitor their workload and see what’s happening with them,” Rohit said. “In fact we are sending some Dukes Balls to all fast bowlers and see if they get some time to bowl with that, but again it all depends on individuals, guys who will be part of finals are not the guys who have not played in UK and may be one or two guys here and there and rest all of us have played in that part of the world.”

On the other hand, Steve Smith, who led Australia in the last two Test matches in the absence of Pat Cummins, is excited to play against India in the final and added it will be interesting to note what kind of pitch they get at the Oval.

“It’s going to be great coming up against India in the final. The Oval, the wicket there can take spin at times particularly as the game wears on,” Smith said. “So it could be interesting in terms of what sort of wicket we get. But it’s a great place to play cricket. There’s usually reasonable pace and bounce for an English wicket. It’s probably as close as you get to Australia potentially in terms of pace and bounce. Yeah, it’s going to be a great Test match and the guys are looking forward to it.”

Smith will lead Australia in three-match ODI series whereas Rohit will miss the first game of the series.