The fans are eagerly waiting for the much-awaited World Test Championship Final event that was all set to commence between India and New Zealand. However, the opening day of the game eventually got washed out even before the scheduled time for tea due to persistent drizzling in Southampton. However, legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar has given a big statement from the Ageas Bowl regarding team combination.
Sunil Gavaskar stated that India has the option of changing their playing XI citing the pitch conditions. During a chat on AajTak, he explained, “Yes, that’s the thing. See, they might have announced the team yesterday, [but] nothing is finalized until the captains share the sheets with each other during the toss. So, you can change the team till the very last moment. As a captain, when I used to be confused between playing a spinner or an extra batsman.”
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He further elaborated, “I used to see the opposition’s eleven and scratch and change the team on my paper just before the toss.So, the eleven can be changed anytime before the toss. So I feel like maybe they’ll think of playing another batsman because of the weather. Because these conditions are suitable for New Zealand fast bowlers so Rishabh Pant is at six, he might shift to seven and an extra batsman might play. Seeing this weather, one spinner might be dropped.”
It has to be noted that India already announced their playing XI on the eve of the WTC Final. On the other hand, New Zealand are going up with the ‘wait and watch’ approach as they have said to open up on their playing combination only after the result of the toss. Now, it will be a thing to see when the marquee event will commence.
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India’s playing XI for WTC final: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, and Mohammed Shami
