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Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes India should go ahead with three pacers and two spinners in their World Test Championship (WTC) final playing XI, while also excluding Ishan Kishan for KS Bharat. India will take the field against Australia in the WTC final at the Oval on June 7 in a bid to win the trophy having lost to New Zealand back in 2021.
Speaking to Star Sports ahead of the ultimate Test match of the season, Gavaskar stressed the importance of KS Bharat and opined that he should keep wickets ahead of Ishan Kishan against Australia. "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," Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar saw some weakness in the No. 6 position for the national team because of the choice that they will have to make between Bharat and Kishan. "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 added.
The legendary cricketers chose a combination of three pacers and two spinners but chose to leave out India's Border-Gavaskar Trophy hero Axar Patel in the playing XI. "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," Gavaskar said.
"No. 9, 10 and 11 will be Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and maybe Shardul Thakur," he concluded.
Earlier, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting chose Kishan in his XI as he believes he has that 'X-Factor'. “I'd pick Ishan Kishan. If you want to be crowned the world champion, you have to win the game. Hence, why there is a sixth day that has been added to give both teams the best chance of a result. I'd be going with Ishan Kishan because I think he just provides that little bit of X-factor that you might need when pushing for a win in a Test match,” said Ponting.
Sunil Gavakar's Preferred Indian XI
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur
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