All set for titanic clash in pursuit of Test cricket’s holy grail

It has been 10 years since India has won an ICC title. The World Test Championship (WTC) final, which commences at The Oval on Wednesday, presents the team a chance to ease itself of this heavy burden.

India will want to make amends for the inaugural WTC final held at Southampton in 2021 when New Zealand cruised home by eight wickets in a rain-affected encounter. Australia stands in the way this time around, as India takes another shot at redemption.

Hottest property

In Shubman Gill, India boasts of the hottest property in world cricket. He had the best of times in the recent IPL, finishing as the highest run-scorer. In this calendar year alone, the Punjab batter has scored international centuries in all three formats.

Australia will be double wary of Gill’s flashing blade, given that he has the wood over strike bowler Mitchell Starc. Left-arm pacer Starc has been unable to dismiss Gill in nine Test innings, and has gone for a strike-rate of over 90.

Smiling assassin: Given the way Shubman Gill has been toying with attacks, Australia will have a special eye on him.
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ANI

If Gill has become synonymous with big scores, his opening partner and skipper Rohit Sharma is in a slump. The Mumbai opener may not read too much into his IPL form, but he will nervy while taking strike at The Oval. At the optional practice session on Tuesday, Rohit was hit on the finger while batting. He batted on after the hit before ending his session early.

Ajinkya Rahane makes a comeback, having last played a Test in January 2022. The Mumbai batter reinvented himself as a powerful stroke-maker in the IPL after finding some red-ball form with two centuries in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy. The vastly experienced Rahane, a veteran of 82 Tests, lends a steady hand in the middle-order.

Cheteshwar Pujara is best prepared for the English conditions as he has turned out for Sussex in the county championship over the last two months. Pujara made the most of the experience, hitting three centuries in a successful stint.

Time to kick on

Virat Kohli, captain in the Southampton outing, will want to better his record in England. The star batter managed only 249 runs in the five Tests against England when India last toured here, at an average of 27.66.

Kohli can take solace in the fact that the last time India met Australia in a Test, he stole the show with a brilliant 186 (at Ahmedabad).

The dependable K.S. Bharat is set to keep his place as the wicketkeeper in the XI, ahead of Ishan Kishan.

With the overcast skies and seamer-friendly pitch, India will be tempted to play four fast bowlers in Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur. Umesh, prone to spraying the ball around while striving for extra pace, could come good when reverse swing is on offer in the latter stages of the match.

The right choice: With four lefthanders in the Australian line-up, Ashwin could be a potent option.
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R. Ashwin could be picked over left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, as that the off-spinner offers a better match-up option to the four southpaws in the likely Australian batting unit.

Australia will be desperate to see David Warner turn a corner. Giving Warner company in the fight against the new ball is comeback man and form batter Usman Khawaja.

Strong middle-order core

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked batters in the world respectively, form a strong middle-order core. Speedster Scott Boland, who has taken 28 wickets in his first seven Tests, has earned his spot over Michael Neser.

Superman! Carey will do well to pick Smith’s brains as the latter has tons and tons of runs and a wealth of experience.
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The Australian line-up picks itself, and looks the stronger side on paper. But India, the top-ranked Test side, will not go without a fight.

The teams (from):

India: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K.S. Bharat, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Ishan Kishan.

Australia: Pat Cummins (Capt.), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and David Warner.

Umpires: On field: Chris Gaffaney and Richard Illingworth; TV: Richard Kettleborough; Fourth: Kumar Dharmasena; Match referee: Richie Richardson.

Play starts at 3 p.m. IST.