England is preparing to host the 2023 World Test Championship final for the second time as the Australian cricket team will be locking horns with Rohit Sharma & Men at the Kennington Oval in London from Wednesday to Sunday. Both teams excelled during the league round and are ready to roar once again in the final.
This will be the second final outing in the World Test Championship for India as they were hammered by New Zealand in the inaugural edition by eight wickets. Playing under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the team will be eager to make amends. However, the ride to victory would not be easy, as India has been plagued by serious injury concerns.
They will be missing the services of Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant, who have been away from the game of cricket for months because of injuries. Meanwhile, KL Rahul injured himself during the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League while Shreyas Iyer also succumbed to an injury earlier this year.
Speaking of the Australian cricket team, they will be playing without the experienced seamer Josh Hazlewood. He initially formed a part of the WTC final squad but the management was forced to replace him with Michael Neser as he picked up soreness during IPL 2023.
However, all the other Australian players will be available for selection for the Final and this can prove to be a big advantage for the team over India who are dealing with major absences.
What has happened so far?
The league round of the 2021-23 cycle of the World Test Championship witnessed a domination of the Australian team as they ended up at the top of the table. They collected a total of 152 points with the help of 11 victories, three losses, and five draws.
The team confirmed their place in the final by scoring wins against the likes of England, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
As far as Rohit Sharma & Men are concerned, they are occupying the second place in the points tally with 127 points. India featured in a total of 18 matches, winning ten and losing five games, while their three games ended in a draw.
India’s major victories came against England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Meanwhile, they booked a berth in the final by defeating Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy by 2-1.
It was an important series for the Indian team as they dominated it by winning the first Test match by an innings and 132 runs and the second Test by six wickets. Though the team lost the third Test by nine wickets, they made a comeback to end the final match in a draw.
Head to Head Record
Australia is leading the head-to-head records against India in the Test format
India and Australia have played a total of 106 Test matches against each other since the inception of the gentlemen’s game. The Pat Cummins-led side is in the lead in the head-to-head records with a total of 44 victories under their belt. As far as India are concerned, they have 32 games while 29 matches between the two sides have ended in a draw.
There also has been a tie between India and Australia in the longest format of the game. The two teams last faced each other in March this year as the Kangaroos toured India for a four-match Test series. The tour saw the domination of the Indian men as they recorded a stunning win by 2-1.
Key Players
Virat Kohli (India): Virat Kohli is likely to be the top performer for India in the WTC final against Australia. In the past few months, the middle-order batter has churned out some spectacular performances and is thus expected to continue the momentum in the high-profile event as well.
Kohli was the top run-scorer for Australia during the Border Gavaskar Trophy with 297 runs to his name in six innings, at a stunning average of over 49. The batter also excelled during the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League as he smacked two consecutive hundreds.
Usman Khawaja (Australia): For the Australia cricket team, Usman Khawaja will be the player to watch out for in the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023. Though the Kangaroos lost the Test series earlier this year against India by 2-3, Khawaja made sure to rule the 22-yard pitch owing to his batting exploits.
He played a total of seven innings and ended up being the top run-scorer in the tournament with 333 runs at an average of over 47.
Predicted XIs
India: Rohit Sharma ©, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins ©, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser
Prediction
The Indian cricket team will walk into the World Test Championship final as favorites. They are relatively experienced in playing the Test final as Men in Blue suffered a loss against New Zealand in the first edition. Australia, on the other hand, will be playing their first WTC Final at the Kennington Oval in London.
Moreover, India defeated Australia by 2-1 in the Border Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. Their players are in better form and are expected to put up a quality performance on the field.