India squad for WTC Final 2021: No place for Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul in 15-man shortlisted squad

India squad for WTC Final 2021: India have shortlisted their squad to 15 players for the historic final to be played later this week.

Much like New Zealand, India have also shortlisted their 20-member Test squad to 15 players for the upcoming final match of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.

It is worth mentioning that the extended Indian squad had been undergoing intra-squad match simulations for the past few days and performances of the same could have played a role in trimming the squad.

With the team management excluding the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Lokesh Rahul from the 15-member squad, they have confirmed that Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will open the batting against New Zealand in the historic final.

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While Sharma and Gill had faced the new ball against England earlier this year, the latter returning with scores of 0, 14, 11, 15* and 0 in his last five Test innings could have went against him. Readers must note that Gill had scored a half-century for Virat 11 in the practice match against Rahul 11.

India squad for WTC Final 2021

Among other players who have been left out of the squad are the all-rounder pair of Washington Sundar and Axar Patel and fast bowler Shardul Thakur. Given India’s riches in the bowling department, the same is not surprising by any means.

For now, India have included both Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha in their squad. Considering how Pant had scored a quickfire century in the practice match in addition to his most recent Test record, the left-handed batsman is highly likely to play as a specialist wicket-keeper batsman in the final.

India’s 15-member squad for World Test Championship final – Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav.