NEW DELHI, May 11: India have all the bases covered for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, said former wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
Parthiv said that the fact that a batsman like KL Rahul is not finding a place in the squad shows how strong the batting lineup is.
“If we talk about batsmen – Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant – there’s a proper band of proper batsmen who can bat well in England. Everyone scored runs, and there is a spare batsman in KL Rahul. Imagine KL Rahul not finding a space in the Test squad, so how strong this squad could be,” Patel told Star Sports.
The WTC final is set to be held at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton from June 18 to 22. Patel said that India has a strong base of fast bowlers and spinners to pick from.
“You talk about fast bowlers, we’ve got (Jasprit) Bumrah, Ishant (Sharma), (Mohammad) Shami and if either of them is not fit then there’s Mohammad Siraj and Umesh Yadav. There’s enough depth in the squad,” he said.
“Then there is Axar Patel, who was probably been the man of the match in a lot of matches against England. He came in place of Ravindra Jadeja, and it felt like Jadeja will be out. Now Ravindra Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin will be back, so I think this squad looks really strong,” said Patel.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria reckons India has missed a trick by not picking a wrist spinner for the WTC final as young Rahul Chahar would have added another dimension to their attack.
“India has selected quite a strong team. Overall, their squad of is good. But the thing to note is that they have not selected a wrist spinner,” Kaneria told PTI from Karachi.
Kaneria, who represented English county side Essex, said that the conditions in England is conducive for leg break bowlers. (Agencies)
