Team India and New Zealand finalized their 15 players for WTC Final. Today BCCI have selected top 15 players from their 20 members squad for the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New-Zealand which will be played from 18-22 June at Southampton. Here is the tweet from ICC regarding top 15 players of Team India:
The @BCCI have named a 15-man squad for the #WTC21 Final 👇 pic.twitter.com/ed59Z1IY6Y
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2021
New-Zealand also finalized their 15 member squad and Skipper Kane Williamson and Wicket-keeper batsmen BJ Watling who didn’t play the last test against England due to injury are included in the squad. After the series win against England their confidence must be high and they are only team who have beaten Team India in a test series.
The @BLACKCAPS have named a 15-member squad for the #WTC21 Final 👇 pic.twitter.com/g2T4XNCrMW
— ICC (@ICC) June 15, 2021
Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari who were injured and didn’t play the England series retained their place in Top 15 players. This means Washington Sundar and Axar Patel have to seat because Jadega will be playing ahead of them and It is right decision as well. They are just unlucky even after excellent performance they are not getting chance but I am sure they will get chance against England Test Series.
The squad had four openers Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. But now they have excluded KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal from the Top 15 members for the WTC final. Being a fan I am okay for KL Rahul who have not played the Test match from long time but I am really sad for the Mayank Agarwal because just because one bad series against Australia he was dropped from playing XI. On the other hand Shubman Gill who also had a mediocre performance in recent England series is included in the squad.
In the fast bowling department, India have the services of Mohammed Shami again, who returned to action in the recently-suspended IPL after a lengthy layoff since fracturing his arm in the Adelaide Test. He completes the five-man pace battery which includes Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj. Shardul Thakur is not included in the Top 15 team selected today.
After the WTC final in Southampton, the Indian squad will head to Nottingham for the first Test against England from August 4. They then play the second Test at Lord’s from August 12; travel up north to Leeds for the third Test from August 25, before returning to London for the fourth Test at the Oval from September 2. The fifth game of the rubber will take place in Manchester from September 10.
India’s squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket-keeper).
Standby players: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arzan Nagwaswalla
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