India announce 15-man squad for WTC final against Australia

Ajinkya Rahane has returned to the Indian Test squad as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the squad for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final.

The BCCI on Tuesday announced India's 15-man squad, which was picked up by the All-India Senior Selection Committee.

India, last edition's runners-up, are scheduled to take on Australia in the 2021-23 WTC final, starting on June 7 at The Oval, London, with June 12 being reserve day.

Rahane was dropped for India's home series against Sri Lanka early last year due to poor form. Even No.3 batter Cheteshwar Pujara had faced a similar fate. However, he has since returned to the side following successful stints with Sussex in County cricket.

India have picked Rahane as one of the six specialist batters in the side, who has come in as a replacement for his fellow Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer, who is currently in the UK for shoulder surgery. Rahane's return to the Test means India have not gone with Suryakumar Yadav, who was one of the reserve batters during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home against Australia this February-March.

Suryakumar featured in just one Test of that series - Nagpur - and made 20 in India's innings victory.

Rahane's selection is on the back of his ongoing fine form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rahane's powerplay batting and six-hitting have caught the selectors' attention. In CSK's most recent outing on Sunday night, Rahane scored a quick-fire 71 off 29 balls as he earned the Man of the Match award for his match-winning knock against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Ajinkya Rahane had a fine domestic season

Rahane, who captained India to the famous Test series win Down Under in 2020-21, lost BCCI's central contract last month for the current season. It was a demotion from the Grade B that had been given prior to that. Rahane's last Test appearance was back in January 2022, in South Africa.

In Mumbai's 2022-23 domestic campaign, Rahane featured for them regularly, and they even won the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s title. Rahane took up the Ranji Trophy seriously, and in a bid to make his way back to Team India, he ended the season with 634 runs in 11 innings, with two hundreds and an average of 57.63.

The BCCI also included Jaydev Unadkat, who played his first Test in 12 years - against Bangladesh in Mirpur in December 2022. Despite being dropped for the final two Tests against Australia, KL Rahul was also selected for the one-off Test at The Oval.

India have picked three spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and the backup option of Axar Patel. Considering the WTC final is being played at The Oval, Ashwin and Jadeja both could make their way in India's Playing XI. Either Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav or Unadkat will bag the third seamer's spot, which in all likeliness will be led by Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj.

India's Test squad WTC final: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.