Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja played a massive role in helping India win Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 by 2-1. However, with the focus shifting to the WTC final against Australia, set to be played at The Oval on June 7, India will have to come up with a different plan.
As per Dinesh Karthik, Shardul Thakur will most likely replace Axar Patel in the WTC final team.
“To be brutally honest if everybody is fit, especially if Ashwin and Jadeja are fit, you will have to say that Axar will miss out. I think Shardul will take his place,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Karthik stated that it might even be difficult for Ashwin and Jadeja to play together considering the conditions.
“Absolutely (India might play either Ashwin or Jadeja). To be honest, that’s where the Indian team made a mistake last time playing both spinners and they didn’t bowl them much. It’s a one-off game. You can’t look at it in the bigger scheme of things. It’s a year-end match for a lot of the players in many ways as after that there will be a fresh cycle. So you have to go into the match thinking ‘what is my best XI to win that game?’ If that means leaving Ashwin or Jadeja out, so be it. We’ve always seen Jadeja get the nod ahead because he can bat better,” Karthik said
“Don’t forget that KS Bharat has had a tough series with the gloves so he will be under the scanner as well,” he added.