As the Indian Premier League (IPL) enters it's final week of the league stages, it brings the much-awaited World Test Championship final of the 2021-23 cycle further closer. In that match at the prestigious Oval Cricket Ground in England, India will clash swords with Australia for the title. India are the runners-up of the previous edition where they lost the final to New Zealand. This time they are prepared more than ever with three back-to-back Test series wins against Australia, with the recent one being just ahead of the IP began in March. A confident Indian side will hope they remain injury free and can adapt to the available conditions quicker so that they can compete hard and bring home an ICC title for which the fans have longed so much for so long. India Likely Playing XI for WTC Final vs Australia: Probable Indian Cricket Team Line-Up for World Test Championship 2023 Final in London.

Ahead of the high-voltage face-off, report by Sportstar suggest that Anil Patel, the honorary secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association, has been appointed as the manager of the Indian men’s cricket team for the WTC final against Australia. Patel has previously been appointed the manager of the team in multiple series in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He has also managed the age group teams like the U-19 team in 2020 World Cup. Significantly, in the series in which Anil Patel was the team manager, the success rate of Team India was 100 percent. Anil Patel has been the manager of Team India in 9 International Series. Team India has won all these series.

With only two weeks left ahead of the final match, BCCI has already announced the squad of the World Test Championship final. KL Rahul has missed out on the squaad because of an injury and hence Ishan Kishan has been chosen as his replacement in the squad. Jaydev Unadkat is doubtful  with a shoulder injury and a decision is to be taken at the last moment. ICC To Abolish ‘Soft Signal’ Rule Ahead of World Test Championship 2023 Final Between India and Australia: Report.

India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (c), 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, Ishan Kishan (wk). Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 18, 2023 03:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).