The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday (April 25) has announced India's 15-member squad for the final of the 2021-23 cycle of the World Test Championship against Australia. The summit clash is set to be played at The Oval in London from June 7-11. The biggest highlight from the Rohit Sharma-led squad announced by the Board is the inclusion of Ajinkya Rahane into the Test match setup.
Rahane has been added after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out owing to his back injury. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav who was drafted into the Playing 11 in the home Tests against Australia in place of Iyer has been dropped following underwhelming returns with the bat. With Rishabh Pant also unavailable for selection as he continues to recover from the injuries he sustained in the car accident in December last year, KS Bharat will be the team's designated wicketkeeper.
Even though there were doubts over KL Rahul's place in the squad, he continues to get a place in the 15-member contingent but might not play in the Final 11 with Shubman Gill expected to open with Rohit Sharma. In addition, unsurprisingly Jasprit Bumrah is not part of the squad announced by the BCCI owing to fitness concerns. Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat are the special speedsteers chosen in the squad for the big game with Shardul Thakur included as a pace-bowling all-rounder.
It would be interesting to see if both Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin manage to get a place in the Final 11 or one is forced to war the benches as it would be tempting to play someone like a Shardul in conditions favourable for seam and swing in London. This is India's second successive WTC final appearance after they lost to New Zealand in the final of the inaugural cycle of the Championship.
India will meet Australia in the summit clash who had earlier announced their squad for this fixture.
India's squad for WTC final:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat