17 Jun 2021

Team India's final playing XI for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final has been announced. The team management has decided to play both off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja instead of going with four fast bowlers which means Mohammed Siraj misses out.

This is only the second time that Jadeja and Ashwin will be playing a Test match together in England since 2014. Ashwin averages 32.92 with the ball in England and 25.77 with the bat while Jadeja averages 55 with bat and 42.37 with the ball. Both cricketers have played at least 5 Tests on the previous two tours in England in 2014 and 2018.

Some former cricketers and pundits wanted to see Siraj play ahead of the veteran Ishant Sharma, but Virat Kohli and the selectors have gone for experience over youth for the big match.

Notably, the ICC WTC Final will be played between India and New Zealand at the Ageas Bowl Stadium in Southampton from June 18. The match will start half-an-hour early at 3pm IST, toss will take place at 2.30pm IST.

India playing XI vs New Zealand: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.

New Zealand on the other hand, are yet to finalise their squad even though captain Kane Williamson said that everybody is fit and available for selection.

"Everybody is fit in the squad. My elbow has improved thanks to the injection a few days back. We haven't finalised the squad yet, we will do that a little later," Williamson told reporters on the eve of the summit clash in Southampton.

Williamson, who's team recently dethroned India from top of the ICC Test Rankings after the England series win, had missed the Edgbaston Test last week due to an elbow injury but is expected to return to their playing XI for the WTC Final.