The World Test Championship final is going to take place on 18th June in Southampton, England where India will face New Zealand.
Led by Chetan Sharma, The All-India Senior Selection Committee recently announced a 20-man squad for the World Test Championship followed by the test series against England scheduled to begin on August 4th. Apart from these 20 players, 4 more players have been announced as reserves. Here’s have a look at the squad announced:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper; subject to fitness clearance).
Although the vice-captain has not been announced, we believe Ajinkya Rahane will continue his role as the deputy.
The players in reserves are: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, and Arzan Nagwaswalla
Prasidh Krishna has tested positive for Covid recently and like Wriddhiman Saha, he too will be taken for the tour if he clears medical. Meanwhile, K.L.Rahul is recovering from acute appendicitis and fans will be praying for his recovery.
India has considered 3 wicket-keepers for the tour, 2 of which are subject to fitness clearance. If they are unable to do so, India will have only 1 wicket-keeper which is not an ideal scenario for a total of 6 test matches. The quarantine rules and regulations will make it very difficult to find a replacement. Even in the reserves none of the players are wicket keepers.
Now talking about some of the prominent exclusions which are as follows:
1- Prithvi Shaw
The young opener has shown tremendous form in the IPL and Vijay Hazare Trophy. Many were surprised and disappointed with his exclusion. Though these tournaments are different forms of the game and happened in India but still his exclusion did not seem justified. Mayank Agarwal has been picked as the third opener who hasn’t shown glimpses of good form in the recent past.
2- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
The swing king of India has had his troubles with injuries in the past years but is still one of the best swing bowlers in India. Playing in England, the team needs the swing bowling of Kumar and his omission did raise eyebrows. The excellent form of young Md. Siraj could be a reason to not pick Bhuvneshwar. The inclusion of Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur over Bhuvneshwar was another shocker. Shardul, though was excellent in the Australia series, you still do not drop a bowler like Kumar especially in swinging conditions.
3- Hardik Pandya
Hardik’s exclusion came in as no surprise. Hardik was a prolific all-rounder and his decision to give up bowling has left the team management unimpressed. In the IPL as well, we did not see Hardik bowl and this could be a reason to drop him from the test squad. Hardik who was compared to greats such as Kapil Dev because of his bowling and hitting abilities has sadly failed to live up to the expectations.
4- Kuldeep Yadav
India’s squad of 20 men have 4 spinners and none of them are leg-spinners. What does this indicate? Does the team not feel the need to have a leg-spinner in their test squad? Or they believe in the current pool of players there is a lack of quality when it comes to being a leg-spinner? Whatever be the reason, this thought has certainly jeopardized Kuldeep Yadav’s flourishing career and the leggie has been finally dropped. India has taken 3 finger spinners in Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar but not a single leg spinner. Upcoming talents such as Ravi Bishnoi or Rahul Chahar not given an opportunity indicates India has lost confidence in their leggies in the test format and continue to stick with what has worked for them in the past.
This is our predicted playing XI for the WTC Final:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Md.Shami/Md.Siraj, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah
Written by: Aditya Paharia