WTC final set to begin at Oval (Image Credit:- Twitter)
The World Test Championship Final (2021-2023) between India and Australia set to begin at Kennington Oval, London. India made their second consecutive entry into WTC final and Australia their first. Newzeland beat India by 8 wickets to lift the inaugural WTC Championship last time.
Rohit Sharma lead India played 18 matches during the WTC cycle won 10 matches, lost 5 and drawn 3. India scored 127 points with PCT of 58.80 and secured second place in the table. Australia on the other hand played 19 matches won 11 , lost 3 and drawn 5. They scored 152 points with PCT of 66.67 and secured top place in the table.
Team India during practice session ahead of WTC final against Australia (Image Credit:- Twitter)
India and Australia so far played 106 Test matches in which India won 32 and Australia won 44. 29 matches ended in draw and one tied.
Both teams had strong pace bowlers who can exploit the conditions which favors them. Team India will miss Jasprit Bumbrah but they had Mohammed Shami , Mohammed Siraj , Umesh Yadhav , Jaydev Unadkat and Shardul Thakur.
Virat Kohli (Image Credit:- Twitter)
Australia will miss Josh Hazlewood due to injury but they had other experienced bowlers like Mitchell Starc , Patt Cummins and spinner Nathan Lyon in their line up.
Rishabh Pant who is recovering from serious car accident is the another player India will miss badly. He is one of those rare player who can win matches single handedly. Most probably K S Bharat will find place in the squad as wicket keeper batter.
Oval pitch offer plenty of bounce which helps both pacers and spinners. A Rahane who made a come back into the Indian side will probably bat at his usual position of number 5. He played his last test in January 2022.
Rohit Sharma (Image Credit:- Twitter)
India Probable XI:- Rohit Sharma(c) , Shubman Gill , Cheteshwar Pujara , Virat Kohli , Ajinkya Rahane , Ravindra Jadeja , K S Bharat (wk) , Ravichandran Ashwin , Mohammed Shami , Umesh Yadhav , Mohammed Siraj.
Australia Probable XI:- David Warner , Usman Khawaja , Marnus Labuschagne , Steven Smith , Travis Head , Cameron Green , Alex Carrey (wk) , Pat Cummins (c) , Mitchell Starc , Nathan Lyon , Scott Boland.
Match will begin at 03:00 PM (IST) and 10:30 AM local.