Team India will take on Australia in the upcoming World Test Championship final at the Oval, starting from 7 to 11 June 2023. So, a squad got already announced for this clash during the ongoing IPL. KL Rahul was a part of that but he got injured while playing for Lucknow Super Kings (LSG).
After that reports came out that the star batter is likely to miss both the remainder of the IPL and the WTC final. However, on 5 May 2023, Rahul confirmed on Instagram that he is going to miss both events. He also claimed that surgery on his thighs will undergo and after that, he will look to make a quick comeback.
Ishan Kishan played only two matches for Jharkhand in the last Ranji Trophy season
So, all fans were eager to see the replacement that Indian selectors would announce. On 8 May 2023, the Indian Cricket Board announce Ishan Kishan as the replacement for Rahul in the squad. They also named the stand-by players' name, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, and Suryakumar Yadav. Ishan is currently busy playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing IPL. This season he has scored 293 runs in 10 matches, at an average of 29.30 and a strike rate of 136.92. In the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season, Ishan played only two matches for Jharkhand. In four innings, he scored 180 runs at an average of 45 including one century.
However, apart from KL Rahul, Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav are currently injured. Still, no such replacements have been announced by the Board as Unadkat is currently at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru undergoing strength and rehab sessions for his shoulder. While Umesh is under the care of the KKR Medical Team. He even has started low-intensity bowling as part of his rehab process. The Board are in constant touch with the KKR medical team and a final decision will be taken at a later stage. However, seeing that, some fans were not happy as they claimed that Wriddhiman Saha has been robbed despite some top forms in the ongoing tournament than these players.
India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Ishan Kishan (wk).
Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, and Suryakumar Yadav.
Here are some tweets:
🤣🤣🤣🤣Jokers, will lose another final and rightly deserves.
— Utsavv (@Uts_vvv) May 8, 2023
Saha could have been better option
— Sandeep Konda (@San7Sandeep) May 8, 2023
He's impressing those selectors by playing tests in IPL 💀
— FaF du Doobey 🇮🇳 (@FaF_du_doobey) May 8, 2023
Mumbai lobby heavy in bcci
— SHIV PAREEK (@imshivpareek) May 8, 2023
So Srikar Bharat will play
— Yuvraj Singh 🇮🇳 (@yuvrajsingchess) May 8, 2023
Unreal backing from captain Ro 🐐💙
— «𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙪» (@Beingshanu17) May 8, 2023
Cricket lost!
— Dwight 🥷🏻 (@nightgarfield) May 8, 2023
Let him play, Bharat was not so doing good keeping in previous series and with the bat he was miserable.
— SHUBHAM SINGH (@Singhh_ji) May 8, 2023
Wah or koi nai mila dhang ka.. BCCI ne than rakha hai ki no Trophy year mana k hi chorega...
— $¡dd 🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@siddyboy30) May 8, 2023
Ishan Kishan has replaced KL Rahul in the WTC Final squad.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 8, 2023