WTC Final: Australia favourites on paper but Indian players have edge in…’ – Ravi Shastri’s big claim

The cricketing fraternity is looking forward to the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final where India will take on Australia at the iconic The Oval, London on Wednesday (June 07). With India being without an ICC title since 2013, Rohit Sharma & Co. will be adamant on breaking their title drought and emeging on top. In the inaugural WTC final, India lost to eventual winners New Zealand, hence, they will like to finish on top but Australia will pose a serious threat. 

Facing the No. 1 ranked Test side, India won’t have it easy. Australia’s bowling attack — especially their pace trio of skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, etc. — will be a stiff challenge for India. Rohit & Co. also have a good bowling attack but they will miss the services of Jasprit Bumrah. Thus, India’s former head coach Ravi Shastri believes India would have started on an equal footing, if not as favourites, had Bumrah been in the squad. He added that Australia are favourites but Indian players have the edge in terms of match fitness thanks to recently-concluded IPL 2023.

‘Match fitness might come into play’

“I would say if you look at pace attack, if Bumrah was there, I would say it was equal with an attack of Mohammed Shami, Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. But that Aussie attack with Starc, Cummins, may be the match fitness that will come into play,” Shastri said at the ICC’s ‘Afternoon with Test Legends’ event.

“Match fitness might come into play,” Shastri reckoned. “You need some cricket behind you and staying in the park for six hours for five days is different from bowling in nets for two hours every day,” he further opined.  “Shami might be key as he has been playing a lot of cricket,” Shastri further asserted. Shami ended with 28 scalps in IPL 2023 and won the Purple Cap. Thus, his form certainly keeps India in good stead heading into the marquee finale.

Shastri, who was in the Indian dressing room when Virat Kohli-led India lost a rain-marred WTC final in Southampton in 2021, also pointed out that the second cycle of the WTC has been much different.

“When you don’t win, it hurts as you are not there to fill in numbers. But if I look in hindsight, compared to that World Test Championship cycle, it’s chalk and cheese. There was COVID-19, quarantines. It was hard on players, 14 days in isolation and then seven days of training. Here both teams have had time to prepare and this one will be a good contest,” he added.

Whoever wins the WTC final will become the first-ever team to have won all ICC events (ICC ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, WTC) at least once.