WTC Final: Sunil Gavaskar picks his Team India playing XI, leaves out two star players

The ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League is certainly the talk of the town, but the members of the Indian Test team will also have their sights set on the WTC final that is to begin on June 7, 2023, and will be played at the Kennington Oval. India will take on their arch-rivals Australia in the finals led by pacer Pat Cummins. Recently, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team took on the Aussies in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and retained the title by defeating the visitors by a margin of 2-1. Interestingly, the final this time around will be played in England again and both the teams will have an equal chance of winning the coveted Test mace.

Former India skipper and now a very successful broadcaster Sunil Gavaskar has finally weighed in on the combination that the Indian team might use for the World Test Championship final. The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced a 15-member squad for the ultimate Test battle against Australia. Ajinkya Rahane was a surprise inclusion in the squad and many believe that his recent performance in the ongoing IPL has earned him an India call-up. Sunil Gavaskar believes that India should go ahead with KL Rahul as their wicketkeeper instead of specialist gloveman KS Bharat who is also a part of the 15-member squad. The 73-year-old also said that India should go with two spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Gavaskar also picked Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj as his pace bowling options and Umesh Yadfav doesn't find a spot in his team.

READ | BCCI announces India's squad for WTC final

Sunil Gavaskar further added:

The duo of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill are my picks to open the batting for Team India. Pujara at three, Virat at four, and Ajinkya Rahane at five. KL Rahul can keep wickets. Then there can be Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin who will be followed by Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, and Mohd Siraj

That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season. The question now is in the final eleven, who's going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. We'll just have to wait and see

Gavaskar also reflected on Ajinkya Rahane's sudden inclusion in the team and said that it was the only possible change that the selectors could've made and reminded everybody that it wasn't just based on his IPL selection. Gavaskar also added that Rahane had a pretty decent domestic season and that made a strong case for his India selection.

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India's World Test Championship final squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.

Australia's World Test Championship final squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner