WTC Final: India defeated Australia in the 4-Test series earlier this year, winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, becoming the first team – of the two sides – to win 4 consecutive BGT’s since the trophy was introduced back in 1996.
A 2-1 series win over Australia and Sri Lanka losing to New Zealand ensured that India reached the World Test Championship (WTC) Final and booked the mega-clash with Australia.
The WTC Final 2023 between India and Australia will be played from June 7 at The Oval in London
India used a total of 14 players in the 4 Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. For the WTC final, a similar squad is expected – barring any late injuries such as Shreyas Iyer, who has opted out of going for back surgery to feature in the IPL and the WTC final, and the ODI World Cup – with just a few changes. India will continue to miss Pant and Bumrah for the WTC final.
Here are 3 Indian players who were part of the BGT but could be dropped from the WTC final squad:
Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav made his Test debut in the first Test vs Australia but scored only 8 runs in the one innings he got to bat in. For the next 3 Tests, he was replaced by Iyer. SKY had a horrific ODI series vs Australia, getting dismissed for 3 consecutive golden ducks.
The selectors are unlikely to take any more punts on Suryakumar Yadav, especially in Test cricket.
Ishan Kishan
Similar to Suryakumar Yadav, the selectors picked up Kishan for the BGT based mostly on his white-ball exploits, in a hope that he could replicate what Pant did. Kishan didn’t get to make his Test debut as KS Bharat played in all 4 Tests.
With the WTC final being just a one-off Test, India wouldn’t need a third wicket-keeper in the squad with KL Rahul acting as a back-up keeper for KS Bharat. KL Rahul was also seen doing wicket-keeping practice in the Ahmedabad Test, perhaps an indication that he’ll get into the WTC squad as Bharat’s back-up. If Iyer is not fit, for the WTC final, then KL Rahul could even play in the middle-order.
Kuldeep Yadav
It would have been frustrating for Kuldeep Yadav to be benched for all 4 Tests against Australia, but Axar Patel justified his selection with his lower-order batting which was crucial in India winning the series.
Kuldeep has played just 2 Test matches in the last 2 years and only 3 since 2019. With the final being at The Oval, where India are likely to go with either 3 pacers and two spinners (Ashwin, Jadeja) or use Shardul Thakur instead of Ashwin, there isn’t any need for the selectors to pick Kuldeep in the squad – there is also no chinaman bowler in Australia’s team, so the Indian batters also don’t need any practice for that – and bench him again for the entire trip.
Even Kuldeep might wonder if he doesn’t get a game in home conditions – he was also benched in the second Bangladesh Test for Unadkat when there was some grass on the surface – then there is little to no hope of getting in the side for the WTC final in England.
