Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal depart for England ahead of WTC final
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma and replacement candidate Yashasvi Jaiswal have left for England for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final after wrapping up their franchise commitments in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Rohit's IPL campaign came to an end with MI's defeat to the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, Jaiswal's season came to an end with RR's fifth-placed finish in the table. He was a late addition to the Team India squad as a cover in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is getting married on June 3.
Jaiswal posted a picture on his social media accounts with Rohit confirming that he is indeed part of the squad for the WTC final against Australia.
He captioned the image:
"Off to England 🏴 for the World Test Championship Final with the one and only @rohitsharma45. I trust I believe."
Yashasvi Jaiswal had a landmark IPL season, scoring the most number of runs by an uncapped player. He was among the leading run-scorers in the tournament with 625 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 163.61. The youngster also broke the record for the fastest fifty (13 balls) in the tournament's history.
Yashasvi Jaiswal joins Mukesh Kumar and Suryakumar Yadav as stand-by players in Team India squad
The squad for the WTC final features the return of Ajinkya Rahane to the national setup. Major players like Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul are sidelined due to long-term injuries.
A few select members of the squad already departed for England along with the coaching and support staff after the end of the IPL league stage. Senior players Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin also made it to England, with Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel being among the players in the very first batch.
Team India's updated squad for WTC final
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
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