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India are going to play against Australia in the final of the World Test Championship from June 7 this year at The Oval in London. They are captained by Rohit Sharma, a charismatic leader, who took over the role in 2022 and steered the side to their second consecutive summit clash in the Test format.
During their WTC campaign from 2021-2023, India won 10, drew 3, and lost 5 Test matches to finish in second place on the points ladder with 58.80% PCT, behind Australia, who got 66.67 PCT.
Last month, the BCCI picked a 15-man India squad which will travel to England eyeing a WTC title. Ajinkya Rahane returned to the Test team after a year of absence from the national setup.
But, in the lead up to this big match, Team India has suffered a few injury blows with players like Shreyas Iyer, and now, KL Rahul, who was initially selected for the final, ruled out. They are already missing out on the services of Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, two of their most prolific performers in the longest format of the game in recent years.
With a lot of election headaches in prospect, Rahul Dravid and the Indian coaching staff will have their task cut out to ensure that they put out the best India XI on the field to win their first ICC trophy in nearly a decade.
SportsTiger looks at the possible XI for the Indian team that could probably take on Australia in the WTC final.
Openers: Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill
The opening pair for Team India in the WTC Final looks quite certain with the captain Rohit Sharma and the young upstart Shubman Gill partnering up to start the innings. Both Rohit and Shubman haven't played much Test cricket in the last year or so, but they have made impactful contributions in his limited appearances in the format. For the summit clash, Team India will need these two openers to provide good starts at the top of the order to ensure that the middle order gets a solid platform to score big runs.