India to simulate conditions in Ahmedabad Test against Australia to prepare for WTC final, confirms Rohit Sharma

Ahead of the upcoming third Test against Australia, Rohit Sharma confirmed that they will be doing something different in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad to prepare for the potential World Test Championship (WTC) Final. A win in Indore Test will confirm India's place in the WTC final but the Ahmedabad Test will be their final red-ball outing before the potential WTC Final in June.

India gained an assailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and home conditions played a big role in their dominance. However, the WTC Final will take place at The Oval, London from June 7 to 11. The conditions will be totally different for India and to counter that the management is looking to use the Ahmedabad Test to simulate different conditions.

In the first two matches against Australia, the Indian team played with three spin specialists and two pacers. But they might drop one spinner and replace him with a pace all-rounder, most probably Shardul Thakur, for the potential WTC Final. Rohit said that Shardul is in the management's plans and they will definitely do something different in Ahmedabad Test.

"There is definitely a possibility of that. We have already spoken about it. We need to get the guys ready for it. The important one is Shardul Thakur, because he comes into the planning for us. We don't know how ready he is since he has just gotten married.

We don't know how many overs he has bowled. But that thought process is definitely there. If we do what we do here and get the result we want, we might think of doing something different in Ahmedabad for sure," Rohit said in a pre-match presser.

'It's not going to be alien conditions as such who'll make the final' - Rohit Sharma opines on the home advantage and WTC finalists

However, Rohit also asked for patience as India are yet to confirm their place in WTC final. But he added that both the teams playing in the final will have no home advantage as England are already out of the picture.

"Just speaking of it from the outside... I don't think England is going to qualify, so both teams who are going to play the final will be neutral teams. It's going to be exciting. There's no home advantage, no conditions advantage. You know India has played a lot of cricket in England over the last couple of years. Australia have also played a lot of cricket there, the 35-year old said.

"Sri Lanka and South Africa are also in the mix. They probably have played a lot of cricket there as well. It's not going to be alien conditions as such [to those] who'll make the final. It'll be a good contest between the two teams, whoever those teams are," Sharma concluded.

India and Australia are most likely to play in the WTC final with the latter in a difficult spot. Australia need to avoid a 4-0 whitewash against India and if not, then they have to pray for New Zealand's win against Sri Lanka in  upcoming two-match home series, commencing from March 8.