The Indian cricket team is gearing up for the much-awaited World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton, which begins on Friday. A day before the much-awaited face-off, The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced India's playing XI Rohit Sharma will be opening the innings with Shubman Gill, who pipped KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal for a place in the final XI. Cheteshwar Pujara will bat at three and will be followed by skipper Virat Kohli. Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will bat at 5. India have picked two spin-bowling all-rounders - Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin.
Jadeja's selection comes as a susprise as he hasn't been a regular member of the final XI in overseas conditions. Ashwin was an automatic selection and will spearhead the spin bowling duties. Both the spinners can also make handy contributions with the bat. Ishant Sharma will be leading the pace attack which includes Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. All the three pacers were part of the previous UK tour, in 2018. Middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari, Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Wriddhiman Saha were the players who missed out from the 15-member squad which was named on Tuesday. The inaugural World Test Championship final will be played at Rose Bowl, Southampton, from June 18 to 22. Meanwhile, captain Kohli, and several others, took to social media and shared the picture of the squad named by the BCCI for the WTC Final. The Indian skipper posted the picture with an Indian tri-colour emoji.
