WTC Final 2023: Injuries to Bumrah, Pant to badly affect India, Aussies to start as favourites - Ian Chappell

Former Aussie great Ian Chappell feels injuries to ace seamer Jasprit Bumrah and attacking keeper-batter Rishabh Pant will badly affect India as they gear up to take on Australia in the WTC final in June next month. Writing for ESPNcricinfo, Chappell said had the pair been fit, India would have started as favourites, but that's not the case now.

With both heavyweights of world cricket ready to battle for the ultimate glory in Tests, India and Australia have some issues to iron out before getting underway at Oval Cricket Ground on June 7th. Chappell further opines considering both teams haven't played a single Test since competing in the Border-Gavaskar series early this year, it is hard to predict a winner.

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"As it should be, this is a hard match to predict. That's mainly because of injury concerns, and neither team has played a Test since completing a hard-fought series earlier this year. To make matters even more difficult, many of the players involved have only competed in the IPL in the lead-up to the one-off Test," Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo.

Sharing his views on what makes him believe that Australia will start as favourites instead, Ian wrote, 

"If Australia's classy pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are available, that makes them slight favourites. They are good bowlers any time, but England in early June should be right up their alley," Chappell said.

Chappell added both sides will come up their A-game, and unless the weather plays a spoilsport, the team who will show more resilience will take the game home.

"Mental strength will play a huge part in this Test. The team that displays the most resilience is likely to win as long as the contest is not unduly affected by bad weather. Being able to maintain a decent line and length under attack is now mandatory in the tougher series, and a fully fit Australian attack should benefit if the opposition are overzealous," Ian wrote.

However, looking into India's likely XI, there won't be match-winners in Bumrah and Pant, as both are out for an indefinite period owing to respective injuries, while Chappell feels their absence pulls India back regarding entering the contest as hot favourites.

"The injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant badly affect India, as they would be outright favourites with these two playing. The somewhat surprising unavailability of allrounder Hardik Pandya also harms India, as he could have provided them with the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle," Chappell said.