India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and opening batter Shubman Gill failed to find a place in India vs Australia combined XI selected by Nasser Hussain ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. The former England captain also cited the reasons for excluding Jadeja and Gill. Notably, India and Australia are all set to lock horns in the WTC Final slated to take place from 7-11 June.
Ahead of the mega clash, Hussain was asked to pick a combined XI including the players from both the squads. Hussain chose Rohit Sharma and Usman Khawaja as his openers while Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, and Virat Kohli formed the middle order. Australia all-rounder Cameron Green got a nod ahead of Jadeja at No.6 while Alex Carey was the wicketkeeper.
Hussain went with Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Mohammed Shami as his three pacers while Ravichandran Ashwin was the only spinner in the XI. Hussain explained his choices. The former England skipper said that if the WTC Final was played in the subcontinent, he would have gone with Jadeja instead of Green.
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“If the World Test Championship Final was in the subcontinent or India, I might go with Jadeja at six. But I’m not, because it’s in England. I’m going to go for a bowling all-rounder, seam-bowler in Cameron Green. That’s who I want as my all-rounder. My spin bowler would be Ravi Ashwin at eight. And he bats, obviously, very good at No.8,” explained Hussain.
Rohit Sharma to lead Nasser Hussain’s WTC Final XI
The former England skipper imposed his faith in Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain for the leadership duties. Hussain said that he likes Rohit’s style of captaincy and hence him ahead of anyone. Meanwhile, the 55-year-old commentator said that it was too early for Shubman Gill to find a place in the combined XI.
“I’d like to have Shubman (Gill) in but I think it’s just a little bit early for him to break into my combined XI, so I’m going to go with Usman Khawaja to open the batting. Then into the very easy bit, three of the all-time world greats in (Marnus) Labuschagne, (Steve) Smith and (Virat) Kohli come in at three, four, five,” he added.
Nasser Hussain’s combined India-Australia XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Mohammad Shami.
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