WTC final: Ravi Shastri picks combined India-Australia Test XI

Ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and Australia, former coach Ravi Shastri has picked a combined India-Australia Test XI.

On Monday (May 22), Shastri revealed the combined India-Australia XI that includes seven Australians and four Indians.

India and Australia will contest the WTC final at The Oval in London, from June 7.

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Shastri named the combined XI in the latest episode of The ICC Review.

The former India all-rounder picked India skipper Rohit Sharma as the captain of the combined team.

“I would give the captaincy to Rohit because he’s much more experienced than Pat,” Shastri declared.

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“He’s been around and he’s captained sides for a long time. If Steve Smith was captain of Australia, then maybe it’s a different story, but since it’s Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma, Rohit wins it. Plus, you know, as a captain, you’re a certainty in the XI so he opens the batting,” he added.

He explained the reasons as he left out Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill and Ravichandran Ashwin.

“It’s a hard choice (to settle on final XI) because Ashwin’s world-class, you’ve got Hazelwood world-class there and you’ve got (Cheteshwar) Pujara there who could be threatening. So it’s not easy,” he said.

On why he picked Nathan Lyon over Ashwin, Shastri said, “The reason why I picked Nathan Lyon ahead of Ashwin is because of Nathan’s overseas record.”

Ravi Shastri’s combined India-Australia Test XI

Rohit Sharma (captain), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mohammed Shami.