Team India qualified for the second successive World Test Championship (WTC) final and will be eager to end up on the right side of the results after losing the inaugural one-off summit clash of the biennial competition. The Indian team was greatly helped by the 2-0 result in Bangladesh and a 2-1 victory over Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy sealed their spot in the final and will be up against the Aussies yet again. However, since the conditions at the Oval in London will be starkly different, the combination for the Indian team could see some major changes, especially with no Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah.
Pant and Bumrah have been the mainstays for India in red-ball cricket, especially in overseas Tests and with both unavailable, the team management could throw in surprise selections to counter their absence. First and foremost, who will replace Pant as wicket-keeper? KS Bharat played all four matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and even though he was good behind the stumps against spin, he was susceptible against the moving ball as was the case in Ahmedabad and his batting technique too has been questioned. even though Bharat did play a couple of good shots against Cameron Green on short balls, Bharat’s batting may not help him in playing the WTC final.
India may not opt for a debutant in such a critical game (Ishan Kishan) and hence, it has opened a chance for KL Rahul to bat in the middle-order as the wicket-keeper. Rahul may be struggling with his form in Test matches, however, his emergence as a wicket-keeper and middle-order batter in ODIs (average of 56) and his returns in England in 2021 have pipped him ahead of Bharat, to play the WTC final.
To determine that, the remaining two games against Australia could be crucial. The next spot in question is of No. 5. While Shreyas Iyer had made that spot his own, especially in Indian conditions, his returns overseas haven’t been great because of his vulnerability against the short ball. As soon as he comes to the crease, the pacers start peppering him with short balls and he gets found out again and again. Also currently, he is out injured with a choric back injury. Keeping those two aspects in mind while looking at a perfect replacement for Pant the batter, Suryakumar Yadav could find a place in the middle order. There’s a chance for Hanuma Vihari to get picked in the squad as well, however, he hasn’t been part of the national side for the longest time and Surya’s impact could prevail if Iyer doesn’t get fit in time.
The rest of the batting line-up is set to remain the same, however, in the bowling department, apart from Ravindra Jadeja, the other two spin bowling options could be left out. R Ashwin hasn’t been preferred by India in overseas Tests and Axar Patel won’t make the side ahead of Jadeja. Hence, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav could join Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj in playing XI in the pact attack.
With the quality they have, Australia will start as favourites in seaming conditions but Team India on their last tour of England showed that they can run the opposition close. Thus, it promises to be an exciting contest.
Team India’s likely playing XI for WTC Final: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav/Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul/KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
