WTC Final 2023: Team India gets practice in full swing as day of judgement nears

With the day of reckoning almost here, Team India has taken practice for World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final to full swing. On a sunny English Sunday, the entire squad turned up for the nets session.

It’s not just acclimatising to the English conditions that brought the entire squad to the practice session in full force, but also that places in the playing XI are still up for grabs and the nets offer a good chance to leave an impression.

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The batting line-up seems all sorted with Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma as openers, Cheteshwar Pujara at no. 3, Virat Kohli at no. 4, Ajinkya Rahane at no. 5, but there is no clarity thereafter.

In the absence of Rishabh Pant, there is a spot left for Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat, and it is being reported that the latter will be preferred.

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Except for Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, there is no clarity of who will make the playing XI’s bowling line-up.

While there have been those who maintain that playing two spinners; Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, will not be effective given the English conditions, especially the fresh green wicket at The Oval, which would be hosting a Test match in the month of June for the first time in it 140-years of history. Earlier the Test matches were reserved till late in August or early September at the venue.

But given that Ashwin has of late shown that he can ball well irrespective of the wicket and has also been useful with the bat, he does make for a good option should the Team choose to look for a man who can add a little with the bat in the lower order while also being useful with the ball.

Or India can go down Kohli’s route, one that looked at both departments as equally necessary if you are looking for just one outcome, which is winning the match.

“I don’t believe in that balance, and I have never believed in that balance because either you can try and save a defeat or you can try and win a game. And we have drawn games in the past with a similar number of batters,” Kohli, then the India captain, had said after the third Test against England in 2021.

“If your top six (including keeper) don’t do the job, there is no guarantee that the extra guy can bail you out. You have to take pride in taking responsibility and doing the job for the team. If you don’t have the ability or resources to take 20 wickets in a Test match, then you are already playing for two results and that’s not how we play.”

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