WTC Final: Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad picked as standbys, India likely to play a multi-day warm-up match

The BCCI has named a few standbys for the 2023 World Test Championship final against Australia, the final 15-member squad for which was announced recently. As per the latest reports, the board has picked five players, mainly Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar, as backups. Ahead of the final, which begins on June 7th at the Oval, the Indian team will also play a multi-day warm-up game.

As per Times of India (TOI), an unnamed senior BCCI official has conveyed these names for standbys and also informed that those players, who will not feature in the IPL 2023 playoffs, which start from May 23rd, will travel to England earlier than others to get acclimatise to the conditions.

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The report also suggests that after consulting with MS Dhoni, veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane was picked in the Test squad for the first time since January 2022. Rahane, sold to CSK for INR 50 lacs at last year's auction, has been a standout performer for Chennai Super Kings this season. Upon hitting his fastest fifty in his debut match for CSK, Rahane broke the shackles with his incredible 29-ball 71 against Kolkata Knight Riders, hitting six fours and five sixes.

Trying to find his feet after losing the BCCI’s central contract, Rahane, who also did well in the Ranji season before this, shined under MS Dhoni in yellow colours – and given his run of form, he is not likely to put a full stop.

While Rahane’s selection raised questions over the criteria for picking players in international cricket, a few others, like former head coach Ravi Shastri backed this call of going ahead with him in the all-important final.

He even tweeted saying this was the best squad the selectors could have picked for the WTC final against Australia.

Meanwhile, all of the above-mentioned standbys are currently plying their trade for their respective franchises in the IPL 2023, with Ruturaj doing well.

Here is the final 15-man India squad for the WTC final –

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat