ICC WTC 2023: Sunil Gavaskar Predicts Indian Team’s Playing XI Against Australia; Assesses Ajinkya Rahane’s Comeback

India has officially qualified for the World Test Championship Final Match Against Australia. The Indian team will take on the Australian Test Team from 7th June to 11th June 2023 in The Oval, London. India made it to the Finals and ended in the second position of the WTC Points Table after defeating Australia 2-1 in the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Recently, the Indian Cricket Team and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed their 15-Man Squad that will take on the Australian Team in the World Test Championship Final. The BCCI received wide appreciation after selecting Ajinkya Rahane for the Team Squad. Sunil Gavaskar predicts Indian Team’s playing XI ahead of the big game.

Sunil Gavaskar on Ajinkya Rahane

Months ago, Ajinkya Rahane was dropped from the Indian Test Cricket Team due to his poor form on the big stage. Weeks before the IPL, BCCI dropped him from the Player’s Contract List as well. However, the fine batsman kept his spirits high and gave stellar performances in the Ranji Trophy which paved back the way to the Indian Team squad.

Ajinkya Rahane scored 634 runs in seven matches of the Ranji Trophy and did brilliantly well for Mumbai in the Indian Domestic Cricket. Ajinkya will be a good replacement for the injured Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, who performed exceedingly well against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2021.

“That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season. The question now is in the final eleven, who’s going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. We’ll just have to wait and see.” said Sunil Gavaskar on Star Sports.

Sunil Gavaskar Predicts Indian Team’s, Playing XI

Sunil Gavaskar picked Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill as the opening batsmen for the Indian team. He pitched Cheteshwar Pujara at number three, Virat Kohli at number four, Ajinkya Rahane at number five and KL Rahul walking to the field at number six.

Gavaskar keeps KL Rahul to be the wicketkeeper for the team. Followed by the spinning All-Rounders duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The squad will have swing fast-pacers Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj and Jaydev Unadkat at the end.