Former India captain and head coach, Ravi Shastri has picked his combined XI for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and Australia. While Shastri made some obvious inclusion in his combined XI, there were some marquee players from either side who failed to make the cut. The cricketer-turned-pundit selected India's Rohit Sharma as the skipper of his combined playing XI.
Ravi Shastri's combined playing XI for WTC final:
Openers: Rohit Sharma and Usman Khawaja
Middle-order: Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith
Wicket-keeper: Alex Carey
All-rounder: Ravindra Jadeja
Fast bowlers: Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Mohammed Shami
Spinner: Nathan Lyon
Shastri omitted India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara and veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from his playing XI while he also overlooked Australia's premier paceman Josh Hazlewood.
" I preferred (Ravindra) Jadeja because you get a better balance with two spinners, three fast bowlers, out and out fast bowlers and I would take Starc because of pace and variety being the left-armer. It's a hard choice (to settle on final XI) because (Ravichandran) Ashwin's world-class, you've got (Josh) Hazelwood world-class there and you've got (Cheteshwar) Pujara there who could be threatening. So it's not easy," Shastri said on ICC Review.
India and Australia - will square off in the second edition of the WTC final at a neutral venue which will make the contest even more compelling. It will be for the first time in two decades that India and Australia will lock horns in an ICC tournament final. The last time these two sides locked horns in an ICC final was in 2003 when Australia defeated India in the ODI World Cup final.
The 2023 WTC final will be played between June 7 and June 11 at The Oval, London. June 12 has been scheduled as a reserve day for the final.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
In India, all you need is RCB's failure for trolls to rear their ugly head: Earlier, it was Daniel Christian's wife, now it's Shubman Gill's sister
Virat Kohli among players departing to England for WTC Final
