Sunil Gavaskar had named his Team India playing XI for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final against Australia which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7-11. There have been many conundrums for the team management to finalize the final XI.
One of the major points of discussion have been who will keep wickets for India- KS Bharat or Ishan Kishan. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but Sunil Gavaskar has made his call and picked KS Bharat over Kishan.
Gavaskar also went with two spinners at the Oval and three pace bowlers but added that this strategy will work on a “bright day” and any change in playing conditions will change the combination.
“I will talk about the batting and that will be Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as one-two. No. 3 is (Cheteshwar) Pujara, No. 4 is (Virat) Kohli, No. 5 is Ajinkya Rahane. I would imagine No. 6 would be either (KS) Bharat or Ishan Kishan. They are talking about Bharat because he has played all these matches so far. So will probably stick with Bharat at six,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
In the bowling department, Gavaskar went with both spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin. In the pace unit, he picked Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur.
"No. 7 will be (Ravindra) Jadeja. If it's a bright day and a bright prediction, then I think you are looking at Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin at No. 7 and No. 8. No. 9, 10, and 11 will be Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and maybe Shardul Thakur,” the former India skipper said.
Sunil Gavaskar's predicted XI for WTC Final:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur
