31 May,2023 06:56 PM IST | London | mid-day online correspondent
Team India (Pic: AFP/Indranil Mukherjee)
The Men in Blue will return to international cricket after a break of nearly three months and kickstart the 2023-24 season with the high-profile ICC World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia from June 7 to 11. It is noteworthy that Team India hasn't won an ICC trophy since ten years and will be keen to end its medal jinx.
Most Indian players, except for the ones who featured in the final of IPL 2023, are already in England at the moment ramping up preparations for the one-off match against the Pat Cummins-led side, which finished at the top of the WTC 2021-23 cycle. Talisman batsman Virat Kohli along with R Ashwin reached England last week, followed by skipper Rohit with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was included as a stand-by player in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The finalists for the WTC final depended heavily on the results of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series held in February-March this year. Australia secured the top spot in the WTC 2021-23 standings with a percentage of 66.67% and 152 points, while India secured second place with a percentage of 58.8% and 127 points.
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The high-profile WTC Final will start from June 7 and will be played till June 11, with June 12 being a Reserve Day. Though the five-day match in the UK will start at 10 am local time, it will start at 3:00 PM IST. In Australia, the WTC Final will start at 7 pm for Australia's eastern seaboard, and 5 pm for Perth viewers.
Also Read: WTC Final: 'Pujara's inputs will be invaluable for Indian batters,' says Sunil Gavaskar
The Oval Cricket Ground in London's Kennington will stage the prestigious WTC Final.
In India, the WTC Final will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network. Fans can catch the action live on the Disney+Hotstar app and website. While in Australia, fans can watch WTC Final live telecast on Seven, whereas the live streaming will be available on Seven's digital service 7plus.
India: 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: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Standby players: Mitch Marsh, Matthew Renshaw
