Players whose appearances in the Indian Premier League ended before May 20 will be part of the first tour group, which includes Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Aksar Patel. R. Ashwin did not go with the first group. The off-spinner, along with left-handed seamstress Jaidev Unadkat, will depart later in the day. Virat Kohli and pacemaker Mohammed Siraj are reportedly scheduled to leave for London on May 24.

Kohli and Siraj played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday and failed to make the playoffs despite the former captain’s superb play. According to The Indian Express, Kohli will leave with his family in the early morning hours of May 24.

The players will be given a day off after the IPL so they can be with their families before leaving for England. Siraj flew to Hyderabad from Bangalore on Monday and will join the team later this week along with the second batch of players.

It has become known that the selectors have decided to send Aniket Chaudhary and Akash Deepa as clean bowlers. Tushar Deshpande, a Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings pacer, was another player the selectors chose to send to the team as a net bowler. However, after the CSK team qualified for the playoffs, Deshpande would not go to London.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who already plays county cricket for Sussex, will join the Indian team on May 26. Pujara spent the summer playing for the Sussex team and is in good form.

Earlier, Indian team management raised concerns about what it saw as insufficient preparation for the WTC finals. It became known that the team’s support staff individually talked to the players and checked their physical fitness. They also wanted to know if the selected Indian players had had time to practice with the red ball during the Indian Premier League.

However, the players expressed their helplessness and reported that they did not get enough time for individual sessions to prepare for the main test against Australia.