"We are quite excited": Indian captain Rohit Sharma set to face Australia's 'Ultimate Test'
Jun 06, 2023
London [UK], June 6 : Indian captain Rohit Sharma was "excited" ahead of ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at the Oval to be played from June 7. He said that their team knew what to do as they had played in the WTC final 2021.
India will take on Australia in the final of the ICC World Test Championship at The Oval from June 7 onwards, marking their second successive appearance in the title clash after a loss to New Zealand back in 2021.
In the press conference, Rohit said, "We are quite excited about the squad as well. We know what happened in the last WTC final as well and we know what happened. We have played here before."
In 2021, India reached the final, facing defending champion New Zealand at Southampton in England. India failed to win the championship and New Zealand won by eight wickets.
Rohit also said that the Indian team have played in these kinds of conditions and they know how to handle pressure in big stages.
"We will have a team briefing in the evening. A lot of guys have played in these situations. They have gone through these situations before. At some stage, they have faced pressure. We will have a good time in the middle. I had a look at the pitch, it will assist the seamers. The last time we played the reverse swing also happened on the last day," the Indian skipper added.
Generally, in England, test matches start at 11'o clock but considering the Indian audience, the game has been shifted half an hour early.
When asked about the match timing, Rohit said, "The last Championship we played was also a 10.30 start. It does not make too much of a difference in half an hour."
India's squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), 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).
Suryakumar Yadav, Mukesh Kumar and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been named as stand-by players for the high-stakes match.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Standby players: Mitch Marsh, and Matthew Renshaw.
