‘If that means leaving Ashwin or Jadeja out, so be it’ – Veteran keeper has stunning take on India’s playing XI for Test Championship final

India are all set to take on Australia again in the Test Championship final after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 2-1. Both teams will battle for the title at The Oval on June 7 to conclude the second Test Championship cycle 2021-23.

India put out a dominating performance in the recently-concluded Test series against the Aussies, and most of the credit must go to the star Indian spin-duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Both spinners took 47 wickets together in the series and shared the Player of the Series awards. While Ashwin ended up being the highest wicket-taker of the series with 25 wickets, Jadeja was the joint second leading wicket-taker along with Australia’s Nathan Lyon.

However, it is unlikely that we will see both spinners taking charge for India at The Oval as there will be more favourable conditions for the fast bowlers. India are likely to go with one extra pacer which means that one of the spinners would have to sit out in the big final. Veteran Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik believes that it will be difficult to pick both Ashwin and Jadeja in the final against Australia as it will be a one-off game.

You can’t look at it in the bigger scheme of things: Karthik

“To be brutally honest if everybody is fit, especially if Ashwin and Jadeja are fit, you will have to say that Axar will miss out. I think Shardul will take his place,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“Absolutely (India might play either Ashwin or Jadeja). To be honest, that’s where the Indian team made a mistake last time playing both spinners and they didn’t bowl them much. It’s a one-off game. You can’t look at it in the bigger scheme of things. It’s a year-end match for a lot of the players in many ways as after that there will be a fresh cycle. So you have to go into the match thinking ‘what is my best XI to win that game?’ If that means leaving Ashwin or Jadeja out, so be it. We’ve always seen Jadeja get the nod ahead because he can bat better,” Karthik further added.

Karthik also had a word about the Indian wicketkeeper KS Bharat. He said Bharat will be under the scanner after a tough series against Australia. “Don’t forget that KS Bharat has had a tough series with the gloves so he will be under the scanner as well,” Karthik said.