India and Australia are all set to square off in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval in London from June 7 to 11.
For the marquee clash, the two teams have finalized their 15-member squads, as announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday (May 28).
“Both teams submitted their final squads to the ICC on Sunday, with Australia trimming their original 17-player squad by two to land on the 15 players that will take on India in south London from June 7,” the apex body said in an official release.
Veteran pacer Josh Hazlewood remains in the mix to feature in the WTC final. There had been reports suggesting Michael Neser may replace Hazlewood as the latter racing against time to attain peak fitness.
After recovering from the Achilles injury, which kept him out of action for almost four months, Hazlewood played only three matches for RCB in IPL 2023 before he flew back home after experiencing side soreness.
In case, Australia need to make a change to the 15-player squad based on injury or other reasons, they have to get approval from the ICC technical committee.
Australia's standby players include all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and Matt Renshaw, while Neser and Sean Abbott will also play a role in the team's preparations when they reach London in early June.
Back-up keeper Josh Inglis and Nathan Lyon's understudy Todd Murphy have been included in the final squad.
On the other hand, India have made no changes to the 15-player squad they picked following KL Rahul's withdrawal due to injury. However, uncapped batter Yashasvi Jaiswal has earned a late call-up as a standby player after his stellar show in IPL 2023.
Jaiswal has been in terrific form this season. While the southpaw amassed 625 runs in 14 IPL games for Rajasthan Royals with two centuries, he scored 404 runs in five Ranji Trophy matches.
Jaiswal replaces Ruturaj Gaikwad as one of three standby players for India. He joins Suryakumar Yadav and uncapped seamer Mukesh Kumar as the standby options for India, with the trio joining the squad of 15 in London in coming days.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Standby players: Mitch Marsh, Matthew Renshaw
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
(With ICC Inputs)
