ICC World Test Championship Final: 5 Indian Players Who Will Be Benched

Team India have landed in Southampton and commenced their intra-squad match in order to prepare themselves for the final of the inaugural World Test Championship against New Zealand, starting June 18th at The Rose Bowl.

The selectors have sent a 20-man strong squad, plus five reserves, for the WTC final and the following 5-Test series with hosts England, which will be played from August 4.

Captain Virat Kohli will be spoilt for choices to fix down the final eleven for the marquee clash against the Kiwis, considering the success of the fringe players in the last couple of Test series – in Australia and at home versus England – in the absence of the first-choice players.

For example, someone like Mohammed Siraj will be pushing the likes of Mohammed Shami, and perhaps even Ishant Sharma, for a place in the line-up; there will be a debate of the opener to partner Rohit Sharma as well. However, there are a few players who are all but certain to sit out of the WTC final.

Here we take a look at 5 Indian players who will be benched in the ICC World Test Championship Final:

Wriddhiman Saha

Wriddhiman Saha would be one name – surely – not on India’s eleven as Rishabh Pant has made that ‘keeper-batsman’s slot his own with his heroics in Australia and at home against England. Unless there’s is an injury to Pant in the meantime, Saha is set to be benched for the WTC final and the Test series to follow.

Saha was picked in the first Test in Australia, in Adelaide, but was dropped after scoring just 13 runs in the game. From thereon, Rishabh Pant took over.

While Saha remains a fantastic keeper, probably the best in the country, his returns with the bat have been low. He averages a paltry 13.57 in 7 Tests since the start of 2018 with the highest score of 24.  Andhra’s keeper-batsman KS Bharat has been added to the squad as well, so even he might get the nod ahead of Saha if Pant is unavailable.

Axar Patel

Rarely there would have been an instance where a player was dropped from the eleven despite making an outstanding performance in his debut series. That will now be the case with Axar Patel.

The left-hander is set to be benched – unless the management defies all logic – for the WTC final and the start of the England series at least in spite of picking 27 wickets in 3 Tests at a staggering average of just 10.59 in his debut series earlier in the year.

He came into the side in place of injured Ravindra Jadeja. Now Jadeja is back into the side, and having become an indispensable part of the team over the last couple of years, the all-rounder will – and should – walk straight into the eleven.

Washington Sundar

Washington Sundar’s fate will be as same as Axar Patel’s cometh the WTC final. Sundar was given his Test debut in the Brisbane Test, as both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were injured; he was selected ahead of Kuldeep Yadav for his additional batting ability.

The 21-year-old rose to the occasion scoring crucial 62 runs in the first innings and 22 runs in the second innings run-chase and picked up 4 wickets in the game, helping the team register historic victory.

For his impressive show at the Gabba, Sundar once again was given the opportunity ahead of Kuldeep in the home Test series against England. While he picked only 2 wickets in 3 Tests, it was his batting in the lower order – scores of 85* and 96* – on difficult batting tracks that indicated his immense potential as a batsman going forward.

His role in the eleven needs to be sorted out more clearly for his career in the longest format; at the moment, with both Ashwin and Jadeja fit and in form, both Sundar and Patel will be sidelined. This will once again highlight India’s strong bench strength.

KL Rahul

On India’s previous tour to England, in 2018, KL Rahul scored a brilliant century – 149 at the Kennington Oval – in the last Test. However, since then in 7 Tests he has averaged a disappointing 17.72 with the highest score of 44.

Rahul lost his place to Rohit Sharma, who began his journey as an opener in Test cricket for India, and Mayank Agarwal, too, lost his to Shubman Gill on in Australia.

KL Rahul is probably the backup of the backup opener on the tour to England. If by any chance, the management may wish to try him in the middle-order, if the first-choice ones are horribly out of form or injured.

Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav might consider himself a tad unlucky to have not added more to his 48 Test caps after making his debut a decade ago. He has not often been out of form and has been a force at home on pitches that weren’t of his suiting.

Recently, in his last Test series, in Australia, Umesh looked in a good rhythm and troubled the Aussies, but, unfortunately, got injured mid-series and was ruled out of it. Mohammed Siraj then went on to impress, so much that he was chosen for the Ahmedabad Test against England over Umesh.

Now with Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, and Mohammed Shami fit and available, and with Siraj making progress, Umesh won’t get a look at the India eleven for the WTC final.

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