BCCI on Tuesday (April 25) announced Team India’s 15-member squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.

Veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane, who has taken the cricketing world by storm with his dazzling exploits in the ongoing IPL for CSK, was a notable inclusion in the squad as Shreyas Iyer’s back injury opened a middle-order slot.

While Rahane’s selection has received mixed responses from the fans and cricket experts alike, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar hailed his inclusion, citing that the Mumbaikar has been rewarded for a good show in the domestic circuit.

Rahane was dropped from the Test side in 2022 but he had a decent Ranji Trophy 2022-23 season, in which he amassed 634 runs from seven games at an average of 57.63 while leading Mumbai.

“That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season. The question now is in the final eleven, who’s going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. We’ll just have to wait and see," Gavaskar said while speaking on Star Sports’ Cricket Live.

Picking India’s playing XI for the WTC Final, Gavaskar said, “Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will be my opening picks, Cheteshwar Pujara at three, Virat Kohli at four, Ajinkya Rahane at five, KL Rahul at six who’ll keep the wickets as well. Then there will be Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, followed by Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Shami, and Mohammed Siraj."

The World Test Championship final is slated to be held at the Oval in London from June 7-11.