Ajinkya Rahane Returns as India Announces Squad for WTC Final

image-lgvued0eRahane back in Test squad [Twitter]

Ajinkya Rahane makes his long awaited return to the Indian squad as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the Test squad for the upcoming WTC finals.

India will take on Australia from June 7-11 at the iconic Kennington Oval, in London to crown the new World Test champion.

Rahane last played a Test match for India against South Africa in January 2022. Rahane’s patchy form in Tests and the rise of Shreyas Iyer meant that the 82 Test veteran was axed from the Test team.

Rahane went back to the domestic circuit and piled on truckloads of runs. With Iyer unavailable for the WTC final due to a back surgery, Rahane might get a nod at number 5, since he has the experience of playing in England.

There’s not too many surprise inclusions in the squad, with KS Bharat once again trusted with the glove-work. The batting looks sorted with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli all travelling and having scored runs on their previous series against the Aussies.

Despite not being in best of forms, KL Rahul gets a nod in the Test side, and it’ll be interesting to see if he gets to don the gloves in place of KS Bharat.

The selectors have also included Jaydev Unadkat in the Test team. Recently he made his return during India’s tour of Bangladesh and his left-arm angle could prove to be an added bonus if India decides to play him.

India’s WTC final Squad

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