Last Updated: June 03, 2023, 10:59 AM IST
India will face Australia in the WTC final. (Pic Credit: BCCI)
It’s poll time. Pick your best India Test XI to face the mighty Australia in the final of the ICC World Test Championship starting June 7 in London
The Indian cricket team resumes its hunt for a first ICC trophy in 10 years. There are two world titles up for grabs including the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup. For the second time in a row, India have made the cut for the final of the WTC and this time around, they will want to finish the job.
India had qualified for the WTC final held in 2021 after finishing at the top of the standings and in the final had to remain content with the tag of runners-up after New Zealand created history by becoming the inaugural champions. It was the latest setback in a series of heartbreaks for India in ICC events where they haven’t won a title since the Champions Trophy of 2013.
This time, they have Australia in their path who were the first team to punch their ticket for the title clash after finishing at the top of WTC standings. The Pat Cummins-led side will hope to join their Trans-Tasman rivals in winning the Test mace.
Australia played 19 Tests during the 2021-23 WTC cycle and won 11 of them while losing three. Five of their Tests ended in a draw.
The Pat Cummins-led side finished with 66.67 percentage points to top the table.
On the other hand, India played 18 Tests during the period, winning 10 of these while losing five and three drawn contests.
The Rohit Sharma-led team finished second with 58.8 percentage points.
Ahead of the finale, here’s your chance to pick India’s strongest playing XI for the big contest:
Barring Cheteshwar Pujara, every member of the Indian squad for the WTC final was involved in IPL 2023. They will have to quickly make a mental switch from white-ball to red-ball cricket and also adjust to the England weather.
Although Axar Patel recently revealed that the India stars were practicing with the Duke balls during the IPL adding that they are happy with the preparations.
This will be the fifth time India and Australia will be locking horns in a Test in 2023. The two teams contested for the Border Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year in February-March with India retaining it 2-1.
