'He will enable India to be aggressive': Ricky Ponting names Rishabh Pant's replacement

Rohit Sharma's team India will take on Pat Cummins' Australia in the finals of the World Test Championship 2023 which is to be played at the Oval. This is India's consecutive second and Australia's first final. Interestingly, both teams have been through tons of changes in the 2021-23 cycle. Rohit Sharma replaced Virat Kohli as India's skipper and Pat Cummins replaced Tim Paine as the Australian skipper. Both the captains will desperately want to get their hands on the coveted WTC mace and will no stone unturned to outplay each other.

The all-important Test match will be played after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League and it will be interesting to see the transition that the players make from the shortest format to the purest format of the game. Australia have had some injury issues, their frontline pacer Josh Hazlewood has been struggling and has missed games for Royal Challengers Bangalore. On the other hand, India are still mulling over their long list of injured players and they need to do something real quick to field a proper XI. India are still looking for a proper wicketkeeper-batsman and KL Rahul's injury has worsened the situation. Former Australia skipper and WTC ambassador Ricky Ponting has now made an interesting pick to play the role of India's wicketkeeper-batsman.

READ MORE: Brian Lara Opens Up On SRH's Sixth Home Defeat

Ricky Ponting while speaking at the WTC 2023 Final curtain-raiser said:

It will be unfortunate if both teams don't get to field their strongest XI. In my opinion, Ishan Kishan is a like-to-like replacement for the injured Rishabh Pant. Yes, Suryakumar Yadav has been added to India's reserve, but in my opinion, Kishan give them the required edge and he will enable India to play aggressively. I expect the same from Australia too. It is a Test match of great importance and both sides should have a go at each other and play a proper fiery brand of cricket.

READ MORE: Virat Kohli Leaves SRH Youngsters In Awe With Magical 100, Signs Souvenirs Later

World Test Championship 2023 Finals: Complete Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).

Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vice-captain), Mitchell Starc, David Warner