Australia and India will go head to head against each other to win the coveted Test Mace. Both teams have some star players in their ranks and the battle is expected to be an intriguing one.
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Australia have made one late change to their squad with pacer Josh Hazlewood being replaced by a like-for-like bowler in Michael Neser. Talking about the combination, Aussies have six batters, two all-rounders, two wicket-keepers, three pacers and two spinners. They have got one of the most stable sides and won’t find it tough to select a strong playing XI.
Talking about the Indian team, batter KL Rahul was initially selected in the squad but was subsequently replaced by wicket-keeper Ishan Kishan due to an injury. All the three spinners in the team are all-rounders and it will be interesting to see how many of them will play the match tomorrow. There are a total of five specialist batters, three spin all-rounders, two keepers and five pacers in the squad.
India vs Australia WTC Final Squad
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Michael Neser, Scott Boland, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis (wk), Todd Murphy.
Reserves: Mitchell Marsh, Matt Renshaw.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat (wk), Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav.
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.
IND vs AUS Test Playing 11
Neither of the two teams have announced their Playing XI so far. Hence, will do so at the toss itself on Wednesday. Cummins, however, confirmed that pacer Boland will be a part of the Playing XI. He has also said that there will be “no surprises” in the team. Frankly speaking, it is not at all tough at all to predict the top 11 players of Australia.
India, on the other hand, have a couple of difficult decisions to make. In the last WTC Final, India opted to go with two spinners and three pacers. The same is the dilemma this time round as well. While all-rounder Jadeja is a surety, a call between fellow all-rounder Ashwin or pace-bowling all-rounder Thakur needs to be taken. Captain Rohit Sharma has given no hints about the combination.
“Pitch and condition keep changing. The message for all the boys is that they should be ready. We will see tomorrow and will decide who will play,” Sharma said in the press conference ahead of the final in London.
IND vs AUS Warm Up Match 2023
Both teams did not play a single warm-up match before the final. They are playing a Test a neutral venue for the very first time against each other and it won’t be easy for both of them to adjust to away conditions. That said, a few players were part of County Championship 2023 before joining their respective national teams.
