Indian men's and women's cricket squads together departed for England in the wee hours of Thursday on a charter flight.
The BCCI tweeted pictures of skipper Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Siraj along with those of senior women cricketers Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami just prior to take-off. The players were all masked up. This is the first occasion when the men's and women's teams are travelling in tandem.
Both the teams will travel to Southampton on arrival in London and undergo tests. They will spend their mandatory quarantine in Southampton, where the men's team battle it out with New Zealand in the World Test Championship final kicking off from 18 June. The women's team plays a one-off Test against England in Bristol from 16 June. This will be their first Test after seven years.
While the women's tour will conclude on 15 July, Virat Kohli and his troops stay on for a five-Test series against hosts England in August-September. The women's team is also scheduled to play three ODIs and three T20Is against England post the Test match.
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