India and Australia will be up against each other for the ultimate drama of World Test Championship (WTC) final which will be on display between June 7 to June 11 at the Oval.
Both the teams have announced their star-studded squad for the all-important clash. On Tuesday, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India's 15-member strong squad for the summit clash which saw a surprise entry to the Men in Blue's fold and he was none other than Ajinkya Rahane. With his recent exploits for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing Indian Premier League followed by success in the domestic cricket, Rahane finally found his groove in Team India's Test set up after sitting on the sidelines since South Africa tour of 2021-2022. Injured Shreyas Iyer's absence paved the path for Rahane in India's Test squad.
Meanwhile, former India's star spinner Harbhajan Singh has justified Rahane's inclusion in India's Test squad and said that he support this selection 100 percent and feels it is a great decision.
"He has captained India in so many matches and is a brilliant player as well. He has great technique. I feel the decision has been taken keeping in mind his present form and hence has been recalled because Shreyas Iyer is still not part of the team," Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
"And with Iyer absent, it serves as an opportunity for Rahane and it's a big match. He is a big player as well and I hope he gives a big performance to justify the selection. I support this selection 100 percent and I feel it is a great decision. There was actually no other solution other than this," Harbhajan further added.
After his dismal outing with the bat in the South Africa series Rahane was dropped from the squad but he didn't give up and went back to the domestic set-up to figure out his shortcomings. He succeeded in his efforts and piled lots of runs in the Ranji Trophy with his spectacular batting and drew selector's attention yet again. Not just this, he also unleashed a new avatar in the IPL 2023 playing for CSK where he has been scoring runs with a lightning strike rate of 199.
However, it will be interesting to see whether Rahane gets a spot in India's playing XI for the WTC final against Australia or not.
India's squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat
Australia's squad for WTC final: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
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