India opt to bowl in WTC Final against Australia

London, June 7

India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl against Australia in the World Test Championship Final at The Oval, here on Wednesday.

The Rahul Dravid-coached side went in with a four-pronged pace attack and preferred Ravindra Jadeja to seasoned off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Terming the decision tough, Rohit said, “He (Ashwin) has been a match-winner for us, it is not a great occasion to leave him out, but you have got to do what is best for the team in the given conditions.”         

India included both Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav in the side and also picked KS Bharat as wicket-keeper, leaving out Ishan Kishan. 

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland.