Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has backed the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team to defeat Australia in the upcoming final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023), which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7-11.

Gavaskar was optimistic about the Indian team out batting the Australians and suggested that the side batting first may not have to come out for the second innings if they make a big score in the first two days.

India had recently announced their squad for the match, with Ajinkya Rahane making a comeback to the squad.

Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar said that if India wins the toss and put up a big score on the first two days, then they won't have to bat in the second innings.

“I’m backing India to out-bat Australia because if you look at the Indian batting lineup, at number 8 we have (Ravichandran) Ashwin who has five Test hundreds and the Oval is generally a very good pitch to bat on. You win the toss, put up a big score on the first two days, then you don’t have to bat in the second innings,” said Gavaskar.

‘Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in WTC squad not because of his current IPL form’: Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar was also asked whether switching from IPL to Tests would be an issue for the players as multiple team members are playing in the IPL 2023 at the moment, which ends on May 28.

He said: “I know the IPL finishes on May 28, and the Test starts on June 7. I’d like to see those players from the teams who haven’t qualified to go to England a bit earlier, maybe even play against club sides. It will help them adjust to the conditions.”

India squad for WTC 2023 final:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.