WTC Final 2023: India will be missing their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the WTC Final 2023 against Australia. The ultimate game of Test cricket to conclude the two-year cycle will kick-off on June 7 at The Oval.
Team India lost the WTC Final 2021 against New Zealand two years ago in Southampton. The Asian giants would be looking to avenge that loss and end their decade-long ICC title drought.
India’s Best Bowling Attack For The WTC Final 2023
The burning question for them is who comes in to replace Jasprit Bumrah and to partner Shami and Siraj? Also, should they go with two spinners and 3 seamers, as they did in the WTC 2021 final vs New Zealand, or should India pick Shardul Thakur as the fourth seamer instead of R Ashwin?
Apart from Shami and Siraj, India have three pacers in their squad: Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Shardul Thakur, who has been the pace-bowling all-rounder in India’s last trips to England and South Africa.
Senior India cricketer Dinesh Karthik believes Shardul Thakur and Unadkat could get the nod over Umesh Yadav to add more variety to the pace attack.
“They have Shardul Thakur in the squad, who I’m pretty sure has a great chance of playing, while the fourth (seaming) option again will be between Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat,” Dinesh Karthik said on the ICC Review.
“As we sit here again, there are a couple of injury issues, a little bit of cloud over their participation, so it’s going to be interesting to see which way they go. But you do get the feeling they could go to the left-arm medium pacer because they would want a variety in their attack.”
Coming to the spinners, Ravindra Jadeja is certain to start in the proper all-rounder’s position. But will R Ashwin, despite his vast experience, get the green light? Under Virat Kohli, Ashwin was benched for the 5 Tests in England as India went with Shardul plus three seamers and Jadeja.
Dinesh Karthik reckons playing two spinners in English conditions could backfire for Team India.
“I think it will be a very brave call to even play two (spinners) – Ashwin and Jadeja together. It might come down to a stage where, are they going to look at just the one spin option and an extra fast-bowling all-round option in Shardul Thakur or are they going to go with two spinners?
“It will be an answer which will be easier said closer to the day of the match because the conditions will dictate whether they’re going to go in with two spinners,” Karthik opined.
“I remember very vividly the last time they did feel that they had made an error by playing both the spinners in the Southampton Test match (2021 World Test Championship final) which didn’t probably aid spin much and both of them were under bowled.
“It will be very interesting to see if India go down that route where they play both the spinners. The last time they played in England, they went for the fast-bowling all-rounder and just the one spinner, so they very much could go in with the same attack.”
