Srinagar: India and Australia have submitted its final squads for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 Final to ICC with Australia reducing its squad from 17 players to 15. The WTC Final ia scheduled to be held from June 7 in South London.
Experienced seamer Josh Hazlewood remains in the mix to play against India after he was named in Australia’s finalised 15-player group.
There had been reports suggesting Michael Neser may replace Hazlewood as the latter faces a race to reach peak fitness for the June 7 start date for the match at The Oval after battling side soreness in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Should Australia need to make a change to the 15-player squad based on injury or other reasons it would need to be approved by the ICC technical committee.
Australia’s standby players include all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and Matt Renshaw, while UK-based Australians Neser and Sean Abbott will also play a role in the team’s preparations when they reach London in early June.
Back-up keeper Josh Inglis and Nathan Lyon’s understudy Todd Murphy have been included in the final squad.
Meanwhile, India have made no changes to the 15-player squad they named following KL Rahul’s withdrawal due to injury, although uncapped youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal earns a late call-up as a standby player on the back of his excellent recent efforts in the IPL.
Jaiswal was in fine form for the Rajasthan Royals, accumulating 625 runs from 14 matches at a strike rate of 163.61.
He will replace Ruturaj Gaikwad as one of three standby players for India, with the left-hander already holding a visa for England and able to fly to London immediately.
He joins fellow white-ball star Suryakumar Yadav and uncapped seamer Mukesh Kumar as the standby options for India, with the trio joining the squad of 15 in London in coming days as both sides prepare for the eagerly-awaited contest.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Standby players: Mitch Marsh, Matthew Renshaw
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
Courtesy: ICC