India have to make 2 tough calls for the WTC final

India have to make 2 tough calls for the WTC final vs Australia

India have started their preparation for the WTC final and they have a few tough decisions to make

(Cricket News) India will be going head-to-head against Australia in the World Test Championship final in a few days time. All the players have started practice after the conclusion of the IPL. The match will be played at the Oval from the 7th to the 11th of June. The men in blue’s chances have been hampered by injuries to key players Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. In terms of team selection Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj pretty much pick themselves. The other spots have competition which leaves a big responsibility on Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma.

2 tough calls team India has to make for the big clash:

Selecting the correct bowling combination:

In the last WTC final, India selected two spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja while New Zealand went with 5 seamers. That cost India dearly as both Ashwin and Jadeja were under-bowled due to the conditions. India rectified that problem in the England series by not playing Ashwin in any match. It worked wonders as 4 seamers in English conditions is a big positive. Now India have to make that decision again. Shami and Siraj pick themselves.

So India will have to choose between seamer Shardul Thakur and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The 3rd seamer is a choice between Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat. An out of the box choice would be if they go with both Ashwin and Shardul. Axar Patel is another risky and unsual choice but it is almost impossible that he and Jadeja will both play.

Ravindra Jadeja’s batting position:

When Rishabh Pant was playing Jadeja would bat at number 7. In the recent Border Gavaskar trophy he batted ahead of KS Bharat at number 5. India may look to bat him at number 5 to get a left hander in the mix. Jadeja is the only left hander in the team and a combination in the middle order would be better. The other reason is that his form recently has been incredible. If he does bat lower than there is a risk that his prowess is not used. The last thing India would want is to be all out with Jadeja on the non striker end.