WTC final: Venkatesh Prasad picks India's XI for the clash against New Zealand

As India is gearing up for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) against New Zealand, former Indian speedster Venkatesh Prasad picked his playing XI for the team. The 51-year-old took to his official Twitter handle to pick the playing XI and termed his team selection as a ‘no-brainer’.

Ahead of the WTC final, one of the biggest challenges for Team India is to make the selection of the bowling unit. India will be confused regarding going with the combination of two spinners and three pacers or one spinner and four pacers. In his XI, Prasad picked two spinners as Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Notably, both Jadeja and Ashwin have done exceedingly well for the Indian team in the purest format of the game. The two spinners also provide depth to batting as they can essay the role of lower middle-order batters for the team. Coming to the pace attack, the 51-year-old went with an obvious choice of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Ishant Sharma. 

Venkatesh Prasad picks Rishabh Pant as the first-choice keeper

All the three aforementioned players have the experience of playing in the England pitches and can give the opposition batters a run for their money. The batting order chosen by Venkatesh featured Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as openers. Gill is now the obvious choice for India in the WTC final as Mayank Agarwal wasn’t picked in the 15-member squad announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). 

Gill and Rohit were followed by Cheteshwar Pujara while skipper Virat Kohli walks at number four. Fifth place was occupied by vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane while the former speedster picked Rishabh Pant as the first-choice keeper. 

“My Indian playing 11 for the #WTCFinal is a no-brainer (Rohit, Shubman, Pujara, Virat, Rahane, Pant, Jadeja, Ashwin, Shami, Ishant & Bumrah ). They have the depth in both batting & bowling irrespective of the pitch. Should be a cracking game,” Venkatesh Prasad tweeted. 

My Indian playing 11 for the #WTCFinal is a no-brainier (Rohit, Shubman,Pujara, Virat, Rahane, Pant, Jadeja, Ashwin, Shami, Ishant & Bumrah ). They have the depth in both batting & bowling irrespective of the pitch. Should be a cracking game .

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) June 17, 2021

Venkatesh Prasad’s India XI for the WTC final: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.