Indian men's and women's cricket team departed for their tour to England late on Wednesday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to Twitter to share pictures of players from both teams. India men's team's captain Virat Kohli, women's team captain Mithali Raj, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Jhulan Goswami were among the few who were captured before the players left for England. "Off we go," the pictures were captioned on Twitter. The men's team will play six Test matches in England, including the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. On the other hand, the women's team will feature in a one-off Test, three One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals.
The World Test Championship final will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, beginning on June 18 and Kohli, during the pre-departure virtual press conference, said that both India and New Zealand will be on "equal terms" as far as the conditions in Southampton are concerned.
"The conditions (in England) are as potent for us as New Zealand... We are going to board the flight thinking that we're on equal terms and whichever team performs well session-by-session, hour-by-hour, is going to win that championship," said Kohli during the pre-departure press conference.
India women's team captain Mithali Raj had said that most of her players will be playing a Test match after a long time and the presence of men's team will help them to clear any doubts that they might have about playing in the UK.
"I am sure the girls have been interacting whenever they cross paths. It is good to have the men's team here because they have played a lot in the UK and you can ask them questions, they can help out because most of the girls are playing a Test match after a long time," said Mithali on Tuesday.