Nasser Hussain picks India-Australia combined XI ahead of WTC final, excludes Ravindra Jadeja and Shubman Gill

The World Test Championship final 2023 is just one week away as India and Australia are all set to lock horns in the summit clash from June 7 at The Oval, in London. Ahead of the much-awaited game, the former England cricketer, Nasser Hussain, has picked his combined XI from the two participating teams. The XI consists of four Indian players and seven Australians.

The most surprising exclusion from Hussain’s combined Playing XI was of India’s all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja. The Southpaw has scored three fifties and one hundred in England at an average of 29.70 and also has 23 wickets to his name. However, the former England captain picked off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as the only spinner in the team ahead of Jadeja and Nathan Lyon reasoning that since the final is in England the team doesn’t need two spinners.

“If the World Test Championship Final was in the subcontinent or India, I might go Jadeja at six. But I'm not, because it's in England. I'm going to go for a bowling all-rounder, seam-bowler in Cameron Green. That's who I want as my all-rounder. My spin bowler would be Ravi Ashwin at eight. And he bats, obviously, very good at No.8," Hussain told The ICC Review.

Further talking about his combined playing XI, Hussain chose Rohit Sharma as captain of the side and the opener along with Usman Khawaja. He then picked three of the greatest batters of the modern era namely Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli at number three, four and five.

"Rohit Sharma, very easy, top of the order and captain for me. I love the way Rohit captains. I'd like to have Shubman (Gill) in but I think it's just a little bit early for him to break into my combined XI, so I'm going to go with Usman Khawaja to open the batting. Then into the very easy bit, three of the all-time world greats in (Marnus) Labuschagne, (Steve) Smith and (Virat) Kohli come in at three, four, five," Hussain added.

To complete his team, the former England captain picked Mitchell Starc, Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins as fast bowlers with Alex Carey donning the wicketkeeping gloves.

Nasser Hussain's combined India-Australia Test XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Mohammed Shami.