India's Strongest Playing XI For The World Test Championship Final vs New Zealand
Updated - 08 May 2021, 08:13 PM
The Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI], on Friday, announced Team India’s squad for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton between June 18-22.
Team India was easily the best side during the ICC World Test Championship cycle as they won five of their six series which included home series wins over England, South Africa a historic Test series win Down Under in Australia.
The names picked by the selectors for the WTC final and for the Test series against England are on expected terms.
That said, there will still be permutations and combinations on the final XI that should take the park in Southampton on June 18.
On that note, here’s a look at the best possible Team India playing XI for the WTC Final against New Zealand:
Rohit Sharma
Three years ago when India traveled to England for a five-match Test series, Rohit Sharma was left out of the squad and there were suggestions that the Hitman’s Test career may well be over.
But a year later, Rohit Sharma revived his Test career when he moved to the opening spot during the home Test series against South Africa.
Sharma hasn’t looked back since then as he finished as one of India’s biggest match-winners during the ICC World Test Championship cycle.
In the 17 innings that Rohit Sharma batted during the WTC cycle, the opener smashed as many as 1030 runs at an average of 64.37 with four hundred and a couple of double-tons.
Sharma was India’s best batsman on challenging tracks in the recent home series against England and Team India will hope that the right-hander continues his form In the all-important WTC final against New Zealand.
Shubman Gill
Gill had a brilliant start to his Test career as he peeled off three half-centuries including a match-winning 91 at the Gabba during India’s triumphant tour of Australia last winter.
But the young Punjab batsman struggles to translate his exploits in Australia on home soil against England as he struggled against the likes of James Anderson.
Gill’s horror run continued in the recent IPL season and while there might be a temptation to bench him for Mayank Agarwal, the team management should stick with the young opener for the summit clash.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara played a stellar role in India’s triumph against Australia as the Indian No.3 stood like a rock against the likes of Cummins and Hazlewood, blunting them with disdain despite coping with multiple blows.
Pujara finished the tour with 271 runs and three half-centuries but it was followed by a rare poor series on home soil against England.
In fact, Pujara hasn’t scored a Test hundred since his 193 against Australia at the SCG in January 2019. The last time Pujara batted at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, he scored a brilliant unbeaten 132 in the first innings.
India will hope that their No.3 breaks his hundred droughts at the same venue in the all-important WTC final.
Virat Kohli (C)
The World Test Championship cycle was a tail of extremely contrasting halves for Indian captain Virat Kohli.
In the first half, Kohli smashed runs for fun as he notched up his career-best score of 254 against South Africa besides becoming the first Indian to score a hundred in a pink-ball Test- vs Bangladesh in November 2019.
Since then, the Indian skipper has endured a torrid time in Test cricket.
Since the series against Bangladesh, Virat has managed just 288 runs in 12 innings at an average of 24 with just three 50s. Kohli hasn’t scored an international hundred across formats since November 2019, and the Indian fans will hope that the drought is finally broken in the WTC final.
Ajinkya Rahane (VC)
But his form in his last 10 Tests has been pretty disappointing. In his last 18 innings, Rahane has managed 471 runs at an average of 27.70 with one hundred and a half-century.
While his century against Australia at the MCG laid the cornerstone for India’s comeback and his half-century against England in the second Test on a difficult Chepauk track was brilliant, the Indian vice-captain had a series to forget against England as his struggles against both seam-swing and spin continued.
Rahane averaged 56 in 4 innings at the Ageas Bowl with half-centuries and the Indian team will hope that the vice-captain will once again emulate those exploits in the summit clash.
Rishabh Pant (WK)
Rishabh Pant was in outstanding form during the second half of the ICC World Test Championship finals as he dished out numerous game-changing knocks.
Having lost his place to Wriddhiman Saha during the initial phase of the WTC, Pant came storming back to reclaim his position as one of the best Test batsman of the current era.
Pant smashed a near match-winning 97 in the fourth innings of the Sydney Test and he backed it up with a series-winning 89* that helped India chase down 328 at the Gabba.
He wasn’t done yet. The left-hander smashed the English attack with disdain on home soil as he smoked a couple of half-centuries before nailing a series-winning hundred in the final Test in Ahmedabad.
Apart from the maturity, he displayed during those knocks, the other major improvement has been in his keeping, especially on raging turners he encountered against England.
Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja has been at the height of his powers as an all-rounder across all forms of the game, especially in Test cricket in the last 2-3 years. Since the start of 2018, Ravindra Jadeja is averaging 55.57 with the bat [778 runs] and 26.07 with the ball [55 wickets] in 16 Tests, and the management will hope that the Saurashtra all-rounder continues his form in the WTC final.
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin was at the height of his powers during the recent winter series against Australia and England as he claimed a total of 44 wickets in seven matches at an average of 18.56 with three five-wicket hauls.
With the bat too, Ashwin turned back the clock as he gritted out a match-saving innings in Sydney alongside Hanuma Vihari besides scoring his 5th Test ton against England on his home ground.
Ashwin struggled in Southampton in the only outing in 2014- 3 wickets in 2 innings at 41.33- and the veteran off-spinner will be looking to shrugs off the disappointment of the past with a match-winning performance in the final.
Ishant Sharma
It is fair to say that Ishant Sharma has been at the height of his powers in Test cricket in the past three years and barring a last-minute injury, he should spearhead the fast-bowling unit in the WTC final.
Ishant finished the World Test Championship cycle as India’s joint-second highest wicket-taker alongside Mohammed Shami.
In 20 innings, Ishant claimed 36 wickets at an average of 17.36 with three five-wicket hauls. Sharma had a brilliant outing in Southampton back in 2018 as he registered figures of 4/97.
Mohammed Shami
Shami was featured in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide where he was stuck on his bowling arm by a vicious Pat Cummins bumper.
Shami was immediately ruled out of the series and he also went on to miss the home series against England. But despite missing 7 Tests of the WTC cycle, Shami still ended up as the joint second-highest wicket-taker- 36 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 19.77 with one five-wicket-haul.
Shami’s record in England is poor and with Mohammed Siraj doing exceedingly well in his absence, the latter could replace him for the all-important WTC final.
But, if one had observed Shami’s bowling during last England tour, he actually bowled well but was bereft of luck on most of the occasions.
With Shami being in imperious form in the past 2-3 years, I’d be tempted to persist with him for the all-important finale.
Jasprit Bumrah
No Indian pace attack can ever be completed without the champion Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah did have much to do during the home Test series against England due to the nature of the tracks but he was absolutely brilliant during the Australian series, where he took up the mantle of leading the pace attack in the absence of Ishant and Shami.
Bumrah finished as the 4th highest wicket-taker for India in WTC cycle- 34 wickets in 17 innings at an average of 22.41 with 2 five-wicket-hauls- which also includes a hat-trick.
Bumrah claimed four wickets in his previous outing in Southampton and the Indian team and its fans will hope that the champion pacer betters his performance this time around.
Also Read: New Zealand’s Strongest Playing XI For The World Test Championship Final vs India
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ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Team India
