Sunil Gavaskar makes surprising pick as India’s wicketkeeper for Test Championship final

After winning the, recently ended, Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 by a margin of 2-1, India will take on Australia once more in the red-ball cricket for the Test Championship final. The two teams will lock horns with each other at the Oval on the 7th of June for the title.

The playing XI of both teams will be the main talking point ahead of the final. The conditions in England will be different from the Indian pitches as they will favor the pacers more than the spinners. India will be missing the services of Rishabh Pant, which will be a big blow as he has played a pivotal role in Tests in the overseas conditions.

Unfortunately, the 25-year-old wicketkeeper batter met with a major car accident in December 2022, and now is on a recovery mode after the successful ligament surgery.

KS Bharat debuted as the wicketkeeper-batter in the Test series against Australia but he hasn’t been able to deliver with the bat, so far. Ishan Kishan was also in the Indian squad for the Test series, but he didn’t play a single match and is unlikely to feature in the Indian playing XI at the Oval.

Former Indian skipper, Sunil Gavaskar feels that India should pick KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batter in the Test Championship final. He urged the Indian team management to keep Rahul in mind for the final clash against Australia despite his poor form in recent times.

Gavaskar said that Rahul bats really well in the English conditions and he should come to bat at number five or six, which can make the Indian batting line-up stronger.

‘He (Rahul) scored a century at the Lord’s’ – Gavaskar

“You can see KL Rahul as a wicketkeeper. If he bats at No.5 or 6 in at the Oval (in the WTC final) then our batting will be stronger. Because he batted really well in England last year. He scored a century at the Lord’s. Keep KL Rahul in mind when you pick your XI for the WTC final,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.

“The real test of a wicketkeeper is on pitches like these where the ball is turning. If you look at Travis Head’s dismissal, when the ball turned and hit his stumps, KS Bharat’s gloves were nowhere near the ball. That means, if the ball hadn’t hit the stumps, it would have resulted in 4 byes. This is definitely a cause for concern,” he further added.

Rahul hasn’t been in a great touch with the bat in, recent times. He couldn’t perform in the first two Tests against Australia and was benched for the next two matches. He was also removed from the vice-captaincy after India announced the squad for the upcoming ODI series starting on March 17. Hardik Pandya will lead the side in the first game as Rohit Sharma will be unavailable due to family commitments.