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A duel between India's formidable top order and Australia's fiery pace attack could determine who comes out on top when the World Test Championship (WTC) final gets underway at the Oval on Wednesday.
Australian batter Travis Head likes the way England skipper Ben Stokes and Head coach Brendon McCullum are leading the English Test team. He said that their style of cricket is "new and fresh". "I like it, I think the way they're going about it is exciting. It's new and it's fresh, and they're coming up with a style that's true to them and true to 'Baz' (McCullum) and Stokes," Travis Head said to cricket.com.au. The Australian batter had a great stint in the last Ashes. Australia had clinched the series 4-0 where Head had a great contribution. In the first match at Gabba, he scored a brilliant hundred.
LONDON : Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India with Scott Boland set to replace him in the playing XI in the one-off match beginning at The Oval on Wednesday.
An Oval Test match in the month of June does bring in the fear of unknown but former England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar would still want Indian team management to field both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the upcoming World Test Championship final against Australia. The WTC final will be played at the Oval from June 7-11. In 140 years of Test match history, this is the first time that the iconic South London ground is hosting a Test match in the month of June when the pitch is green and fresh.
Out of all the top stars who are in the Indian cricket team for the World Test Championship final, one batter who will be closely watched is Shubman Gill. The last year has been a stellar time for the dashing opener. Be it Tests, ODIs, T20Is, or even the recently-concluded IPL, Gill has proven that he is the next big thing in world cricket. Naturally, the expectations are high from the 23-year-old as the WTC final draw near. This time India will face Pat Cummins' Australia for a shot at ending their decade-long ICC title drought. However, ahead of the final, Australia great and former India coach, Greg Chappell has pointed out a few areas which might be troublesome for Gill.
A formidable bunch of Indian cricketers will require a perfect blend of skill and temperament when it clashes with an equally-strong Australia in the World Test Championship final, starting Wednesday, with an aim to end a decade-long global trophy jinx. India have been the most consistent side over the past two WTC cycles and also reached knockout phases of major white-ball tournaments over the last 10 years but a trophy has eluded them. The last major ICC trophy India won was way back in 2013 when it bagged the Champions Trophy in England.
His only Test hundred outside the sub-continent came at the Oval in 2021 and India captain Rohit Sharma says one never feels "in" as a batter in English conditions but somehow develops an intuition as to when to attack the opposition bowling. Ahead of the World Test Championship final against Australia starting Wednesday, the Indian skipper, who has enjoyed the best batting average in his team (50 plus) since the inception of the tournament, feels that there is no substitute for hard grind on English tracks.
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting termed Australia as "slight favourites" over India to win the ICC World Test Championship final against India, which will start from June 7 onwards at The Oval. In an event ahead of the WTC final between India and Australia at The Oval, Ponting said that his side is slight favourite to win the title clash. He said that conditions at The Oval are more suited to Australia as compared to India. The Aussie great also said that the lack of cricket played by Australia in recent times and the heavy dosage of competitive cricket in IPL 2023 to Indian players could also decide the match's outcome.