India should go ahead with Ishan Kishan in Rishabh Pant's absence in WTC Final, says former Aussie opener

No. 1 ranked India are set to lock horns with Australia in the forthcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final versus Australia at The Oval, London on June 07. Being without an ICC title since 2013, Rohit Sharma & Co. will be eager to lift their first-ever major title in the upcoming clash. However, it won't be an easy task versusPat Cummins-led Australia.

Ahead of the WTC finale, India have plenty of injury concerns, with several key players, such as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, etc. out of action. Thus, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden made his pick for India's wicketkeeper-batter slot for the marquee finale. He feels India should go ahead with uncapped player Ishan Kishan instead of KS Bharat in Pant's absence.

Speaking to PTI, Hayden suggested, "One of the big losses to Indian cricket right now is Rishabh Pant. If I was an Indian selector, I certainly go with the more dynamic wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan, he also adds that bit of swagger to the batting lineup and in the fielding unit as well."

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Ishan has not yet made his Test debut. He was in the squad in the 2022/23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy versus Australia, held in India, but didn't get a game. Bharat made his debut and did a decent job behind the stumps -- albeit with a few fumbles -- and looked promising with the bat with a best of 44. While Ishan is a like-for-like replacement for Pant, with both the southpaws being aggressive with the bat, Bharat is more of a steady batter.

It will be interesting to see if Rohit & Co. opt for Ishan and drop Bharat for the mega finale. Further, Hayden also said that India should play both R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI.

In this regard, he said, "What works for India is two spinners. It doesn't work for Australia, apart from the outrageous turners that we saw in India during the Border-Gavaskar trophy."

''I know the Australian combination will always want to have three quicks. Obviously, Nathan Lyon is our spinner and Cameron Green can play as an all-rounder. I mean, that's, that's how important Cameron Green is. That's a powerful and important role that he plays as an all-rounder. So it's great to have him in form,'' Hayden added.

India's final squad for the WTC summit clash

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)

Reserve players:Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav

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