WTC final: India and Australia finalize their 15-player squads

The Indian and Australian team have finalized their 15-man squads for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final, set to commence on June 7th at The Oval. According to the apex body of the sport, the two sides had to mandatorily trim their squads to 15 for the marquee fixture for the Test mace.

Josh Hazlewood finds a place in Australia's squad:

Experienced new-ball bowler Josh Hazlewood has found a place in the 15-man squad after reports of side strain emerged earlier. A few reports also suggested that Michael Neser might bolt into the squad should Hazlewood be declared unfit for the final. Australia need permission from the ICC Technical Committee to make a change to their 15-player squad.

Nevertheless, Hazlewood faces a stiff competition from right-arm seamer Scott Boland, who can be a handful in the English conditions. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh and batter Matthew Renshaw have been pushed to the reserves.

India have made no changes to their 15-player squad after KL Rahul pulled out of the WTC final due to injury. However, uncapped youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal earned a late call-up as a standby player, replacing Ruturaj Gaikwad. Jaiswal was in excellent form in IPL 2023, accumulating 625 runs in 14 matches at 48.08 with two centuries. Jaiswal will join Suryakumar Yadav and Mukesh Kumar as standby options for India.

Squads for the ICC World Test Championship final:

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.

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