"Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form" - Sunil Gavaskar

Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes Ajinkya Rahane hasn't earned a recall to the Indian side for the World Test Championship (WTC) final based on his IPL 2023 performances. He noted that Rahane has done equally well in domestic cricket.

The 34-year-old's return to the squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final has been a big talking point. The right-hander hasn't played a Test since January 2022 but shot into contention after his sensational outings for the Chennai Super Kings.

He is striking at nearly 200 and has scored 209 runs in five innings with two fifties.

Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar justified Rahane's inclusion by stating:

"That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season."

He is also keen to see whether India will go for KL Rahul as KS Bharat as the keeper.

"The question now is in the final eleven, who's going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. We'll just have to wait and see."

Rahane performed decently in the 2023 edition of the Ranji Trophy, making 634 runs in seven matches at 57.63 with two centuries and a fifty.

India's squad for WTC final against Australia

This will be India's second WTC final, having lost the previous one to New Zealand by eight wickets at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in 2021.

Rohit Sharma and Co. qualified for the final by defeating Australia 2-1 in a home Test series.

Here's the full squad that India have named for the upcoming match:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.