The Team India has received a major boost ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia in the form of left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat getting the green light from the NCA to travel to London for the final showdown of the WTC 2021/23 cycle.
India will be facing Pat Cummins’ Australia team at the Oval for the WTC Final 2023, the winner to grab the Test mace and a whopping prize of $1.6 million.
India have been fretting over the fitness of two pacers in the squad- Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat. During the IPL 2023, Umesh suffered a hamstring injury and Unadkat a shoulder injury.
Jaydev Unadkat is the only left-arm pacer in the Indian squad for WTC Final and could start ahead of Umesh Yadav to partner Shami and Siraj.
Part of the Lucknow Super Giants team in the IPL 2023, Unadkat had fell while bowling during the nets and suffered a shoulder injury.
The left-arm pacer recently took to social media to share a photo of himself boarding the plane for London.
View this post on Instagram
Unadkat made his return to the Indian Test team after over a decade last year in Bangladesh and played his second career Test match. His being a left-arm angle adds a variety in the Indian pace attack.
Meanwhile, the BCCI has roped in Yashasvi Jaiswal in the WTC squad as a standby player as a replacement of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who will be getting married on June 3.
Team India players have been leaving for London in batches.
The likes of Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj left after RCB were eliminated from the playoff race at the end of the league stage. Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan left after MI got knocked out. Ajinkya Rahane will leave after the conclusion of the IPL 2023 final on Monday.
Here is India’s squad for World Test Championship final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat
Australia’s squad for WTC final 2023: Pat Cummins (Captain), Steve Smith (VC), David Warner, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Harris, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, and Todd Murphy
