Team India captain Rohit Sharma won the all-important toss and elected to bowl first in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia on June 7 (Wednesday). India went in with four seamers and one spinner in the playing XI as Ravichandran Ashwin didn't find a place in the side. When it comes to the wicket-keeper position, India went ahead with KS Bharat in the playing XI rather than handing a maiden Test cap to Ishan Kishan.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Australia playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
A formidable bunch of Indian cricketers will require a perfect blend of skill and temperament in the WTC final with an aim to end a decade-long global trophy jinx. India have been the most consistent side over the past two WTC cycles and also reached knockout phases of major white-ball tournaments over the last 10 years but a trophy has eluded them.
Out of the six series India played in this cycle, their only series loss came in South Africa and that led to an unexpected change of guard with Rohit Sharma taking over the leadership role from Virat Kohli. They remained unconquerable at home, drew a hard-fought series in England before surviving a slight scare in Bangladesh.
Squads:
Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
Reserves: Mitch Marsh, Matt Renshaw
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav.
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.
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