WTC Final 2023: Irfan Pathan predicts India's playing XI ahead of showpiece event against Australia

India and Australia are gearing up for the all-important World Test Championship 2023 final which is set to be played starting June 7 at The Oval in London. Australia faced a major blow just a few days before the ultimate Test as ace pacer Josh Hazlewood was ruled out and Scott Boland was named his replacement. 

India too were handed several setbacks over the course of the WTC 2021-23 cycle as several key players suffered injuries, which made the selectors’ job difficult. After Jasprit Bumrah’s injury, Rishabh Pant met with a deadly accident that ruled him out for months to come.

Then, during Australia’s tour of India for the Border Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year, Shreyas Iyer sustained an injury, and KL Rahul injured himself during the IPL 2023, thereby taking the injured players’ list to four. Nevertheless, India named a strong squad for the marquee tournament, and former India cricketer Irfan Pathan shared his views on India’s probable playing XI.

Irfan named skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the opening pair, with Test specialist Cheteshwar as the top-order batter. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane make it to the XI and take the fourth and fifth spot in the lineup respectively. Interestingly, Pathan chose Ishan Kishan as the wicketkeeper-batter ahead of KS Bharat.

The choice is going to be a difficult one to make eventually, as Bharat has recent experience of playing against the Australian lineup, given that he was a part of India’s scheme of things during BGT 2023. Kishan, on the other hand, brings a lot to the table with his aggressive batting style and hence is also a contender for the spot in the middle.

Pathan included Ravindra Jadeja as the spin-bowling all-rounder, and kept the second spot open for either of Ravichandran Ashwin or Shardul Thakur, saying that the ultimate decision will depend upon the pitch conditions. Nevertheless, it is unlikely for India to play without their leading spin-bowling all-rounders Ashwin and Jadeja. Lastly, Pathan named Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj as the three pacers in the playing combination.

Irfan Pathan@IrfanPathan

My team india playing 11 for the #WTCFinal 1) Rohit 2) Shubman 3) Pujara 4) Virat 5) Rahane 6) Kishan 7) Jadeja 8) Ashwin/ Shardul 9) Shami 10) Umesh 11) Siraj It’s early summer so the question for me is the weather n pitch so debate will be between Ash and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

04:57 PM · Jun 05, 2023

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