Ajinkya Rahane has made a comeback to the Indian Test team for the World Test Championship final against Australia in June.
India will be led by Rohit Sharma in the final which will be played at The Oval from 7-11 June. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, who were part of India’s squad for the series against Australia, miss out on a place in the 15-member squad.
Rahane, who hasn’t played for India since the three-match Test series in South Africa last year, has earned a recall after his recent performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League and in the Ranji Trophy.
Rahane has scored 209 runs in seven IPL matches and was Mumbai’s top scorer in the Ranji Trophy with 634 runs at an average of 57.63. Rahane effectively comes in place of Shreyas Iyer who is out with a back injury.
Earlier, Australia had named their squad too for the final alongside for the first Tests for the following Ashes series with David Warner included in the list.
India’s Test squad WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), 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.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Australia and India were the top two sides of the 69-Test, two-year cycle which saw the two dominate their rivals before heading into a thrilling four-Test series in India which the hosts won by a narrow 2-1 margin.
Australia finished at the top of the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 standings with 11 wins, five draws and three defeats (19 matches) which earned them 152 points and a PCT of 66.67.
India collected 127 points, winning 10 Tests, drawing three and losing five (18 matches) to finish with a 58.8 PCT – second spot in the standings.