India and Australia are set to clash for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title in the second cycle, with the final beginning at the Kia Oval in London today.
Australia topped the WTC points table in the 2021–23 cycle with 66.67 points percent (PCT) in 19 Tests, while India made its cut for the final with 58.8 percent after beating the Kangaroos 2-1 in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home.
India lost the WTC 2021 final against New Zealand, which became the inaugural champion by beating Virat Kohli’s men by eight wickets at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.
ICC regulations allow the sides to nominate only 15 players for the WTC Final, meaning Australia have had to trim their Ashes Squad of 17 by leaving out Mitch Marsh and Matt Renshaw for the clash against India.
Michael Neser received a late call-up to the 15-player squad after Josh Hazlewood failed to recover from side soreness that he suffered during a brief Indian Premier League stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Meanwhile, the India team will be largely unchanged from the side that
defeated Australia 2-1 in the Border Gavaskar series earlier this year.
The exception is the return of Ajinkya Rahane, who has been absent from the Test squad since January 2022, having won his way back in on the back of some prolific form in the Ranji Trophy, as well as this year’s IPL Tournament.
India are also without Shreyas Iyer, who re-injured his back in the fourth Test against Australia and now faces an extended stint on the sidelines. India are also without wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who has a Test ton at The Oval to his name, as he continues his rehabilitation from serious injuries suffered in a car crash.
The squads
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Srikar Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat.
Australia: Pat Cummins (Captain), Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc and Michael Neser. (C.D)
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