India could select 30-man squad for the ICC World Test Championship final, here are the players

The Indian cricket team for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship clash against New Zealand could be decided soon. Looking at the coronavirus situation, Virat Kohli’s team might include 30 players in the squad. With a series in England including five-Tests planned in August-September, India would be looking to stamp their authority final against New Zealand. India topped the ICC World Test Championship table after beating England 3-1 while New Zealand was the first team to seal their spot in the final.

Looking at the performances in the recent Test series against England, there are some certainties for the ICC World Test Championship final. Rohit Sharma will be the opener. Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari will be the middle order. Rishabh Pant will be the keeper. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be the five front-line bowlers.

However, looking at the recent performances against Australia, India would not want to leave out some of the stars in that tour. Here is a look at some of the other notable inclusions from the performances against Australia and England.

Aussie Test stars to be in the mix

Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar and T Natarajan will be part of the squad. As a back-up for Pant as the keeper, Wriddhiman Saha might also be included. After the performances against England and on current form, it would be hard to ignore Axar Patel. The conditions in England, though, might merit playing only one spinner.

Prasidh Krishna could be included in the squad. Krishna was impressive in the ODIs against England and also put up a good show for Kolkata Knight Riders. Avesh Khan might also get a look-in, along with Navdeep Saini. Rahul Chahar has been impressive for Mumbai Indians and has a good first class record.

The main battle will be for the opening positions. KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal are all staking a claim to be Rohit Sharma’s opening partner. Shaw has redeemed himself with an average of over 100 in the Vijay Hazare as well as a good show in IPL 2021. Agarwal struggled a bit but he can be solid.

The dark horse in this entire squad could be Devdutt Padikkal. The youngster has been impressive in domestic cricket and IPL. In the 2021 edition, he was one of the batsman who hit a century. The left hand and right hand combination at the top might prove to be the factor that gives India the advantage in England.