KL Rahul and Axar Patel's omission from India's 15-member squad for WTC final upsets Twitterati
Team India has announced their further-trimmed 15-member squad for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, which will be played in Southampton starting Friday.
KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, and Washington Sundar are among the most prominent names to have missed the final 15 for the one-off Test.
One of the most versatile batters in the cricket world, KL Rahul’s omission has upset several fans. Even Axar Patel’s exclusion from the squad has surprised fans.
In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, the all-rounder made a remarkable start to his Test career in the recent India-England series.
Several fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the exclusion of KL Rahul and Axar Patel. Here are some of their reactions:
Why KL Rahul, Axar Patel, and co. will miss the Sri Lanka tour
KL Rahul, Axar Patel, and the other Indian cricketers who were part of the 23-member Test squad and didn’t make it to the final 15 won’t feature in the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka. The extended squad has been picked for the entire tour of England, which will end in September.
KL Rahul was India’s opener in their previous tour of England in 2018. Debuting at the MCG in December 2014, he was thought of as a long-term prospect in Tests before losing his place owing to a string of low scores.
One of India’s key players in the white-ball setup, KL Rahul, hasn’t played a Test in almost two years. He has played 36 Tests for India, scoring 2,006 runs at an average of 34.58.
Meanwhile, Axar Patel made his Test debut in the second Chennai Test against England in February.
Receiving a Player of the Match award on his debut, the all-rounder outshone Ravichandran Ashwin and ended up bagging 27 wickets in three Tests at an average of 10.59.