In search of an ICC title to end their decade-long drought, Team India will face Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC Final) 2023 at The Oval from Jun 7.
India have lost the services of some key players – Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul – and hence, it will be Australia will start the WTC Final 2023 as the favorites in the English conditions.
India squad for WTC Final 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Since India’s squad was finalized, there have been unrest among fans as a few players who they think should have been called up didn’t get the nod.
Here are 2 unlucky players to miss out from India’s squad for the WTC Final 2023:
Sarfaraz Khan
The saga with Sarfaraz Khan and his non-selection in the India’s Test team continues as once again the 25-year-old found himself out of favor with the selectors despite his sensational form in domestic cricket.
Khan had piled up 556 runs in the 2022/23 Ranji Trophy season at a Bradman-esque average of 92.6 with three centuries. This was following on from two mammoth Ranji seasons previously. While Rahane averaged 57 in the Ranji Trophy 2022/23 season, Sarfaraz averaged a starrign 92!
After Shreyas Iyer got injured, the selectors decided to fit in KL Rahul in the middle-order and also picked Ajinkya Rahane in the squad on the back of his exploits in the IPL for CSK. With Rahul injured, Rahane is likely to come in the middle-order.
The selectors have also picked the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad (now replaced with Yashasvi Jaiswal) as standbys, while ignoring Sarfaraz
Mayank Agarwal
With KL Rahul also injured, many believe Mayank Agarwal should have been recalled to the Test squad as the backup opener for this important fixture against Australia. Instead, the selectors went with Kishan as the keeper backup to replace KL Rahul.
Agarwal found himself out of the Indian Test team last year with Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill as the opening options.
However, Agarwal did what any dropped player could do best: pile up runs in domestic cricket. Mayank Agarwal was the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy 2022/23 season with 990 runs at an average of 82, ransacking 3 hundreds and 6 fifties.
