'Just unbelievable. Rahane is back because of his IPL performances': Rahane's inclusion divides the internet

Team India announced their squad for the World Test Championship final against Australia from June 7 to June 11. This will be India's second successive WTC final and they would look to better their result from last time as they face a dangerous Australian outfit. Team India have been stung by injuries to key players like Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. However, this time BCCI decided to recall a veteran of Test cricket for the all-important final at the Oval in UK.

Former India captain Ajinkya Rahane on Tuesday made a comeback to the Indian team for the WTCfinal against Australia. Rahane's comeback after 15 months was on predictable lines after Shreyas Iyer's back injury ruled him out of the grand finale. Iyer has undergone surgery in UK for a lower back stress fracture.

Rahane played last of his 82 Tests in January 2022 against South Africa in Cape Town. The rest of the squad led by Rohit Sharma was on predictable lines.

KS Bharat is the only specialist wicketkeeper, while Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, who were part of the home series against Australia, were dropped from the current squad.

Twitter goes into meltdown as Rahane returns for WTC final

I had been thinking, and chatting to people, about India's squad for the WTC Final. And whichever way I looked at it, I was zeroing in on this team. That suggests there weren't too many choices. The only real talking point is the return of Rahane. Looks in good form, not slogging…

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 25, 2023

Rahane's redemption 🥵💥 https://t.co/lIQ1XwKvzd

— SANJU 🌶️ (@dhfm_sanjeev) April 25, 2023

We won a test series against Australia in Australia under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane. Comparatively what did Surya did in test cricket ? As of now he’s good player for t20 & ODI format only.

— Kedar Joshi (@kedarjoshi009) April 25, 2023

Ajinkya Rahane 🛐 pic.twitter.com/c4R6yI9Wms

— Sameer (@agonyofsameer) April 25, 2023

And Ajinkya Rahane makes a very well deserved comeback. Looks in great form, timing the ball superbly, looks to be the first choice No.5 batter in the final XI. Dhoni indirectly played his part for the Indian team in the WTC final as well. #WTCFinal #CricketTwitter #TeamIndia https://t.co/gPg8W2mEes

— Shamak Layeeq (@shamak_layeeq) April 25, 2023

Ajinkya rahane is back
he's back people he's back in the squad and i hope he make all his haters see his value what a legend he truly is. Still a long way to go. #wtcfinal

— C'mon man (@YashGar76438408) April 25, 2023

Other IPL batsmen get orange cap for their performance. Rahane got blue cap pic.twitter.com/nYu5ayLZvB

— Sagar (@sagarcasm) April 25, 2023

Ajinkya Rahane is back in the test squad 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/rTfsOuGPMn

— Dennis🕸 (@DenissForReal) April 25, 2023

Yeah squad looks good. But picking Rahane based on IPL performance 😑

— प्रीti (@Preeti_S_24) April 25, 2023

Happy 😊 for ajinkya Rahane

That's the power of Dhoni and Chennai super Kings 💛 . https://t.co/EaCmVFsFl5

— Ankit Jha (@AnkitJh95403862) April 25, 2023

Just unbelievable. Rahane is back because of his IPL performances. And it's horrendous, to say the least. I give absolute zero Fs to what he does in the Final, but this selection is just wrong on so many levels.y https://t.co/QpCjBLxC6S

— Jaanvi🏏 (@that_shutterbug) April 25, 2023

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

(with PTI inputs)