Legendary Indian batter, Sunil Gavaskar came in support of the selection committee’s move to recall Ajinkya Rahane to the Test squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in June. Gavaskar highlighted that Ajinkya Rahane’s selection is not just based on his incredible form in IPL 2023 but due to his domestic form and the experience that he brings to the middle order.

Ajinkya Rahane was selected in India’s 15-member squad for the WTC final, which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7 to 11. Rahane was dropped after India’s tour of South Africa in January 2022 and had not made it back to the team but the absence of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant due to injuries seems to have been the reason behind his comeback. 

Rahane was in fine form in the Ranji Trophy, as he amassed 634 runs, including a double century and a hundred, in 7 matches as Mumbai captain. Rahane put his head down and returned to domestic cricket and maintained his form in the IPL. Rahane has scored 209 runs in 5 games at a strike rate of close to 200, reinventing his T20 game with Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023.

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Speaking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar said Ajinkya Rahane’s selection is a good call in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. He said, “That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season.”

The former Indian skipper captain also gave his thoughts on what would be an ideal XI, shedding light on the wicketkeeper conundrum in the XI. KS Bharat, who had a decent debut series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has been picked as the designated wicketkeeper in the squad while KL Rahul, who was dropped from the XI during the 4-Test series against Australia due to poor form, has been retained in the side.

While Bharat will provide a specialist wicketkeeping option, there have been calls to play Rahul as the wicketkeeper to add more solidity to the middle order.

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Sunil Gavaskar elaborated, “The question now is in the final eleven, who’s going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will be my opening picks, Cheteshwar Pujara at three, Virat Kohli at four, Ajinkya Rahane at five, KL Rahul at six who’ll keep the wickets as well. Then there will be Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, followed by Jaidev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami and Mohd Siraj.”