Ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final, former allrounder Irfan Pathan has revealed his preferred India Playing XI. The huge and highly-anticipated contest is scheduled to be played from June 7 at the Oval in London.
Australia and India qualified for the WTC final after finishing the second edition of the WTC cycle as the top-two ranked sides. Australia will be playing the final for the first time while beaten finalists of the first edition India are gearing up for their second final. Both the teams are eyeing their first-ever WTC title.
And a couple of days before the match gets underway in London, Irfan Pathan took to Twitter to reveal his India playing XI. Starting with the batting lineup, the former cricketer-turned-commentator began by picking skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the openers. Their were no surprises for the next two spots too as he went for Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli.
Irfan Pathan reveals his India Playing XI for WTC final:
For the number 5 spot in the batting lineup, two players – Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav – were in contention to replace injured Shreyas Iyer in the team. And Irfan Pathan went with Rahane ahead of Suryakumar Yadav who made his debut during the Border-Gavaskar series earlier this year.
For the wicketkeeper’s role, the former India star picked Ishan Kishan ahead of KS Bharat to replace Rishabh Pant in the India XI for WTC final. He picked Ravindra Jadeja as the allrounder before saying that one between Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur will be occupying the number 8 spot in his team depending on the conditions.
“It’s early summer so the question for me is the weather n pitch so debate will be between Ash and shardul. What do you guys think ?,” wrote Pathan.
He concluded by naming Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj as the fast-bowlers in the team.
Irfan Pathan’s India Playing XI for WTC Final:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin/Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj