Ajit Agarkar picks his Indian XI for WTC Final, leaves out Mohammed Siraj
It is all that’s there in the air at the moment. The talks about the World Test Championship Final. It cannot get bigger than this. Kiwis, more like lions this time, playing under Kane Williamson. Against the mighty Men in Blue, who know nothing but to achieve glory under the leadership of Virat Kohli. With the final, later this month, the two-year-long ICC World Test Championship (WTC) season will finally come to an end. It is scheduled from June 18th to June 22nd in Southampton.
All the excitement and pomp among the fans has led to the pundits giving their expert opinions and predictions on the Starting XI that could be playing for the title. Meanwhile, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has his say on the line-up predictions.
Agarkar has picked Mayank Agarwal to partner Rohit Sharma as the opener. Mayank has been affluent in all the formats recently. But his performances in the red ball cricket have been top-notch. KL Rahul recently suffered an injury, while Shubman Gill has had a below-average performance in the current IPL season.
The following three places in the batting order are not even up for grabs. Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane simply walk into the XI. It will be an act of crime to drop any of them for this prestigious outing against Williamson & Co. Pujara, and Rahane are specialist test batsmen and are the backbone of the Indian Test side.
Recently, Bharat returned home. Rishabh Pant makes it to Agarkar’s predicted line-up, deservedly so.
Now is when the questions will be asked. Choosing the starting set of bowlers from this list of players will not be a piece of cake. However, Ajit has gone with two spinners and three pacers. With Jadeja and Ashwin in the line-up, India bats deeper than usual. And on an England pitch, you have to have you’re “A-Team” of pacers. As per Ajit Agarkar, the pacers that could make it to the XI are Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah.