Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has named his preferred Indian playing XI for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final between India and Australia. The much-anticipated mouth-watering clash between the two giants of world cricket will take place from June 7 at the Oval in London.
India are looking to win the WTC Trophy in their second attempt, having lost the previous final against Kane Williamson-led New Zealand. Australia, on the other hand, are gearing up to the play the WTC final for the first time. The Pat Cummins-led side booked their spot in the final by finishing the WTC cycle as the top-ranked side, followed by India.
Sunil Gavaskar’s India XI for WTC final:
A couple of days before the start of the WTC final, Sunil Gavaskar has revealed his picks for India’s XI. The legendary batsman began with the opening pair and said that he would like to see Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara as India’s top three. He then named Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane for the 4th and 5th spot in the batting order.
“I will talk about the batting and that will be Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as one-two. No. 3 is (Cheteshwar) Pujara, No. 4 is (Virat) Kohli, No. 5 is Ajinkya Rahane,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Speaking further, he picked KS Bharat over Ishan Kishan to replace Rishabh Pant as the wicketkeeper of the team, saying: “I would imagine No. 6 would be either (KS) Bharat or Ishan Kishan. They are talking about Bharat because he has played all these matches so far. So will probably stick with Bharat at six.”
Talking about the bowling lineup, he hoped that India will go with 3 pacers and 2 spinners. The batting great picked Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin as the spinners before naming Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur for the pace department.
“No. 7 will be (Ravindra) Jadeja. If it’s a bright day and a bright prediction, then I think you are looking at Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin at No. 7 and No. 8. No. 9, 10 and 11 will be Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and maybe Shardul Thakur,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
Sunil Gavakar’s Preferred Indian XI
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur
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