Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle reckons most of India’s XI for the WTC Final is settled and picks itself, however, he addressed a couple of slots that are up for debate.
India will take on Australia at The Oval from June 7 in the WTC Final for the biggest prize in Test cricket. The two teams topped the points table of the WTC 2021-23 cycle and now will meet for the mega-clash in London.
While Australia have a full-strength squad to select from, India have been dented with injuries to multiple first-choice players. India will be without four of their key players: Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul.
The absence of Iyer and KL Rahul means that Ajinkya Rahane, who is recalled after a year to the Test side, is set to slot in back to his previous position at number 5.
The debate, as it was on India’s previous tour of England in 2021/22, is around whether India should go with a second spinner in R Ashwin, or considering the England conditions which are more conducive to pace bowling, they should back Shardul Thakur. Under Virat Kohli‘s captaincy, India dropped Ashwin from the XI on their previous series in England and included Thakur ass the fourth pacer wiith Ravindra Jadeja the lone spinner.
Given Australia also have four left-handers in their top 7, this might tilt the sclaes toward Ashwin.
For Harsha Bhogle, R Ashwin should get the nod in the WTC Final over Shardul Thakur. For the third pacer, Umesh and Unadkat are in contention. There could also be a case of handing Ishan Kishan his Test debut over playing KS Bharat, who featured in the 4 Tests against Australia at home.
“I think 9 players pick themselves for India. Rohit, Gill, Pujara, Virat, Rahane, Jadeja, Bharat, Shami, Siraj. Depending on conditions/instinct/form, no 8 could be Ashwin (my choice) or Shardul and no 9 Umesh or Unadkat. In very good batting conditions alone, India might consider Ishan ahead of Bharat,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.
Key for India remains Virat Kohli: Harsha Bhogle
In no uncertain terms, Harsha Bhogle labelled Virat Kohli as the main man for the team in the epic clash that is the WTC Final 2023 against one of Virat Kohli’s favorite opponents: Australia.
Kohli has an average of 48 against Australia, with 8 centuries; in English conditions, he averages 33 with 2 hundreds.
