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Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (Source - Twitter)
India and Australia are going head to head in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final match on June 7 at The Oval in London. India won the toss and elected to bowl first on the green surface to use the overcast conditions. Due to this, they also dropped the no. 1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin as there is not much for the spinners.
Meanwhile, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Faroukh Engineer, who later settled in England, didn’t look satisfied with Rohit’s decision to bowl first and said that Indian batters don’t want to get exposed against the mighty Australian speedsters on a fresh green surface at The Oval.
"India winning the toss, the decision (to bowl first) is a bit surprising but I think the decision was taken because our batsmen do not want to be exposed to the Australian attack on a fresh green track," Engineer, who is settled in England, told ANI.
We have a very good batting lineup: Faroukh Engineer
However, Faroukh later said that the team will be depended on Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. He also talked about some other Indian players and said that India has a very good all-round side, with Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill as the key players of the team.
"We are hopeful, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj are effective. I think they will be effective...It's not a bad decision but a bold decision. He (Cheteshwar Pujara) is a key member of the side. So are Virat and Shubman Gill, we have a very good batting lineup. It's a very good all-round side," he added.
India lost the WTC 2021 final match against New Zealand but they kept their consistency in the format and qualifier again for the second consecutive. But this time, they will definitely look to get their hands on the Test Mace and end their 10-year-old major world title drought. Talking about Australia, they were last seen in the red-ball cricket actions against India and suffered a loss by 2-1 but ended up as the table topper in the WTC 2021-23 cycle.