Michael Hussey picks Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to be key players for India in WTC Final

The World Test Championship 2023 Final is just over a week away as India and Australia prepare themselves to lock horns in the summit clash. The two teams will be going against each other from June 7 at The Oval in London. Both teams announced their squads for the big game in April and are expected to give tough competition to each other.

Ahead of the big game, former Australia cricketer Michael Hussey has named star batter Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as the two key players to watch out for in the Indian setup. Notably, Virat Kohli was seen in imperious form in the IPL, whereas Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, had a sub-par season.

"It's hard to see past Virat Kohli. He (Kohli) is obviously coming back into some great form again in all forms of the game really, so both he and Rohit Sharma with the bat are going to be important for India," Hussey was quoted as saying by MyKhel.

Further talking about Australia’s key players, the 2007 ODI World Cup winner said that fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood would look to exploit the conditions of England.

"It is going to be played in England, so English conditions will be different to the recent series in India, so I think the fast bowlers are going to be important. Pat Cummins (is key for Australia) and Josh Hazlewood might be fit again which would be nice for Australia," the former batter added.

Notably, most of India’s players have reached England for the big game while Mohammed Shami, Shubman Gill and KS Bharat who’re part of the Gujarat Titans squad will leave after the IPL 2023 final. Star batter Cheteshwar Pujara has been in England for quite some time and is captaining Sussex in County Championship division two.

Cheteshwar Pujara preparing for WTC final in County Championship

Pujara is the second-highest run-scorer of the season so far, having scored 545 runs in eight innings with three hundreds and one fifty to his name. Star Australian batter Steve Smith is also a part of the Sussex squad and is getting himself acclimatized to the conditions ahead of the WTC final and the Ashes.

Meanwhile, Australia have an upper hand heading into the big game as India would be missing big players such as Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah who’ve been ruled out due to injuries. Most of the Australian players were also not part of the IPL and hence, will be fresh coming into the summit clash, unlike Indian players.