Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has unveiled his choice of combined playing XI of India and Australia team for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship Final (WTC 2023) which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7-11, 2023. Team India lost the inaugural edition of the WTC Final in 2021 against New Zealand at Southampton.
As India qualified for the WTC final for the second time in a row, Australia will make its debut appearance in the final. World Test Championship final will be a big opportunity for the Indian team to end India’s drought in ICC events as the all-exciting WTC finals.
Speaking on the ICC Review, Ricky Ponting picked the Australian Opener Usman Khawaja and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma as the opener and captain of his, as both batters can provide a left-right combination at the top of the order, as they have shown brilliant form in the recent times for their respective teams in the test cricket.
“I’ll start with Usman Khawaja. His last couple of years, whether it has been in Australia or away, have been outstanding at the top of the order, I’m going left-hand-right-hand, so I’ll go for Rohit Sharma as the other opener. He’s not just entirely form-based either. I wanted him to be captain of the side,” Ricky Ponting said.
For the important number 3 spot, the Delhi Capitals head coach picked Marnus Labuschagne, as he showed tremendous process in International Cricket since his debut against England in Lord’s coming in for the injured Steve Smith and reckons that Virat Kohli and Steve Smith will come on to bat in the next two positions as they have been top-class players in International Cricket.
“Since he came into Test cricket as a concussion sub at Lord’s when Steve Smith got hit by Jofra Archer, he’s hardly put a foot wrong, Pretty hard to go past the next couple I’ve got in the batting line-up, which are Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. If you talk about great players of the last decade, both of these guys will be right at the top of anyone’s list”.
The 48-year-old wants Ravindra Jadeja as the all-rounder in his team as he can help the team with both bat and ball in the WTC final and Alex Carey as the wicket-keeper in the team as he better experience than KS Bharat in England Conditions.
“What I’ve seen with Ravi Jadeja the last two or three years in Test cricket is how much his batting has improved, and he can easily hold down a number six or number seven spot, It could be Carey at six and Jadeja at seven, or vice versa, whichever way the game was sort of going,” Ponting added.
Ricky Ponting went with three front-line pacers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Mohammed Shami in the side as they can swing the bowl in England conditions and reckons the pacers have done exceptionally well in the overseas condition and picked Australia’s primary spinner Nathan Lyon in his team, who can be vital in Oval Conditions.
The former Australian World Cup Winner believes that his choice of Playing 11 would be the team to beat, as they got all the bases covered in the side.
“It’s a pretty good side. I wouldn’t want to be another team that had to come up playing against that team, It’s got pretty much every base covered, that’s why I think everything leads to this being an intriguing World Test Championship Final,” Ricky Ponting concluded.
Meanwhile most of the Australian Test players not participating in the IPL, will come with better preparation than India for the finals and it will interesting to see whether the Rohit Sharma side-side adopted the England condition quickly to give a stiff challenge to Australia and feels their form in the Indian Premier League can transform in WTC final
Ricky Ponting’s combined India-Australia Test XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mohammad Shami