Distinguished cricket Commentator Harsha Bhogle has picked Ishan Kishan as the wicketkeeper-batter for the Indian team if the surface at the Oval favours the batters, as the Mumbai Indians batter is known for his attacking batting skills in white-ball cricket.
The Indian Wicket-keeper spot is up for debate as the Indian team will miss out on Rishabh Pant due to a prolonged injured. Ishan Kishan has replaced the injured KL Rahul in the team and it will interesting to see whether India gave him a red-ball debut in the all-important game against Australia in the final.
Harsha Bhogle, who will be part of the Broadcasting for the WTC Final, feels that India would play Ajinkya Rahane in the number 5 spot in place of injured Shreyad Iyer and said that he would go with Ravichandran Ashwin for the number 8 spot over Shardul Thakur, as they will be toss-up between Jaydev Unadakat and Umesh Yadav for third pacer spot.
“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,” tweeted Harsha Bhogle.
Indian stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Cheteshwar Pujara would like to put in a match-winning performance for their side in the high-stakes final to win an ICC trophy after 10 long years.
With Pant out, Bharat kept the wickets but failed to impress with both bat and wicketkeeping gloves, where he played four test matches as a wicketkeeper for India and scored 101 runs in the four matches. Ishan Kishan earned his maiden Test call-up for the home series against Australia earlier this year but could not make his debut for the Indian team as they trusted Bharat for all four matches.
Whoever is allowed to play in the final, will have a vital role to play behind the stumps and in the lower down the order alongside Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja as the runs in the middle order will be crucial for the team’s success in the World Test Championship final, as the Indian team will look to end their long-awaited ICC trophy.
India Squad For World Test Championship final: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.