- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A week after Australia named a 17-member squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India and the first two Ashes Tests that will follow, India on Tuesday (25) came with their 15-player group for the big match to be played between June 7 and 11 at the Oval.
Middle-order batter and former Test captain Ajinkya Rahane was recalled to the squad. The 34-year-old batter has not played a Test match since India’s tour of South Africa more than a year ago. He was part of the India team that played New Zealand in the final of the WTC 2021 in Southampton and lost by eight wickets. He scored 49 and 15 in the two innings, respectively.
While Shreyas Iyer, who is recovering from a back pain, lost his place to Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, who made hiis Test debut against Australia earlier this year and has played in only one long-format game, also missed out.
Led by Rohit Sharma, the squad features spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and left-armer Jaydev Unadkat are the quick bowlers of the group.
Jasprit Bumrah did not feature either as he continues with his rehabilitation programme.
KS Bharat was picked as the wicket-keeper as Rishabh Pant is still to regain complete fitness since his horrific car accident in December last year.
India and Australia have played in 106 Test matches so far with Australia winning 44 and India 32. Twenty-nine matches ended in draws while one was tied.
India’s Test squad WTC 2023 final: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, K L Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
