India's opening combination for the WTC final against New Zealand has possibly been finalised, with Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma the only regular opening batters in the final 15, named on Tuesday evening. Hanuma Vihari, who India have often turned to for batting insurance on overseas tours, has made the cut, but there is no place for Mayank Agarwal or KL Rahul.
Both Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha have made the squad as the wicketkeeping options. Saha last played in India's series opener against Australia in Adelaide in December, and has since become No. 2 to Pant in India's first-choice Test XI.
Meanwhile, the five pace options are Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav, the last being preferred over Shardul Thakur. Only two spin options in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, with Washington Sundar and Axar Patel, who performed exceedingly well on the tours of Australia and in the home series against England respectively, part of the reserves.
Jadeja's inclusion is a sign of India's team management being satisfied with his red-ball progress since recovering from the finger injury he picked up in Australia, which ruled him out of the home series that followed against England. Patel, his replacement, made quite a splash by finishing his debut series with 27 wickets in three Tests at a staggering average of 10.59. Jadeja did, however, turn out for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021 before it was postponed indefinitely, and showed good form as well as fitness.
Another player who could consider himself unlucky is Thakur. Drafted into the XI for the Brisbane Test as India struggled to put together an XI because of a long list of injuries, he impressed with both bat and all - contributing 67 in the first innings and picking up seven wickets for the match.
More to follow...
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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