The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) declared the Indian squad for the much-awaited ICC World Test Championship final that is scheduled to take place at the Oval in London from June 7-11 on Tuesday. The most talked about point was Ajinkya Rahane’s comeback into the Indian Test team as the last time he played for India was 15 months back. 

Since Shreyas Iyer is injured and is still recuperating, selectors have shown faith on Rahane as he has been in a scintillating form in the ongoing IPL 2023. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also commented on Rahane’s selection and said that since Shreyas Iyer is not fit, Rahane has made his way into the squad. 

While talking on Star Sports’ Cricket Live, Pathan said: “Had Shreyas Iyer been fit then Rahane would not have got the place in the WTC Final side. But as far as the current form is concerned, he is looking in great touch. The format in which he is playing now is completely different but Rahane’s performance on foreign pitches has always been good and this has gone in his favour.”

“I would have kept both Surya and Rahane in the team. I would have played Surya instead of Axar because you are not going to play with three spinners in English conditions. In such a situation, having Surya in the team would have given an additional advantage to the batting line-up,” he said.

The Indian team will be playing their second WTC final as they will face Australia at The Oval. Earlier, in the first WTC final they lost the match against New Zealand. 

India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.