Sarfaraz Khan, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad Among Five Standby Players for WTC Final Against Australia

Soon after the conclusion of the IPL 2023 season, Team India players will travel to UK to face Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval in London from June 7-11.

Ruturaj, Sarfaraz, Ishan Kishan named in WTC Stand-by squad

While the BCCI announced Team India’s 15-member squad for the WTC final on Tuesday (April 25), the board didn’t mention the standby players in its media release.

A report claims that Sarfaraz Khan, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini are the standby players for the marquee WTC final.

While Sarfaraz and Gaikwad are specialist batters, Saini and Kumar are pace-bowling options. On the other hand, Kishan is a wicketkeeper-batter.

Notable Changes In The WTC Final Squad

As per the report, the Indian team might play a multi-day warm-up match ahead of the WTC final and players not featuring in the IPL playoffs will depart for UK in advance.

Veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane, who has taken the cricketing world by storm with his dazzling exploits in the ongoing IPL for CSK, was a notable inclusion as Shreyas Iyer’s back injury opened a middle-order slot. Inputs from CSK skipper MS Dhoni were taken by the Indian team management and the selection committee before Rahane was recalled to the Test side.

The squad also sees the back of KL Rahul, who was dropped from the last two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia earlier this year.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has made the cut to the team which will be led by Rohit Sharma. KS Bharat continues to be the designated wicketkeeper in the squad in the absence of injured Rishabh Pant.

Team India Squad Announced By BCCI

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.