Reports: Sarfaraz Khan & Suryakumar Yadav among 6 standby players for ICC WTC Final

Team India’s star batter Suryakumar Yadav who lost his place in the the test squad due to poor form is likely to get a call as a standby player for ICC WTC final. Sarfaraz Khan and Ruturaj Gaikwad too are amongst the six players in the standby list for the marquee event.

The Indian Team will miss the services of experienced batter KL Rahul who has been ruled out of the IPL 2023 and World Test Championship Final. Team India will contest against Australia in the ICC WTC final which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7 to 11.

Suryakumar Yadav set to get a recall in the test squad as a standby players for WTC final

Men in Blue are lacking options in the middle order due to injuries to Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant. Hence, they are exploring the option of including aggressive batter Suryakumar Yadav in the squad.

A BCCI source told the Times of India,“While it hasn’t been officially decided as yet, Surya was recently been told to keep his UK visa ready.”

The Mumbai-based batter was dismissed for three consecutive ducks against the Aussies in the ODI series and didn’t score much runs in the initial phase of IPL 2023. Thus, he was kept out of the actual 15-member squad in which Ajinkya Rahane was preferred over him.

However, Suryakumar Yadav has rediscovered his form in the cash-rich league scoring three fifties at a fabulous strike rate of 184.13. He had made his test debut in the first Test in Nagpur in which scored eight runs in the only innings he batted before being dismissed by off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and pacers Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini have already been picked as standbys for the WTC final. Sarfaraz Khan has been in a terrific form in the domestic circuit for the last couple of years.

There were speculations about him getting a place in Indian test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, he wasn’t included in the squad despite a consistent run in the last two seasons of Ranji Trophy.

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Ruturaj Gaikwad too has been rewarded for his exceptional record in domestic cricket and IPL. On the other hand, Ishan Kishan has found a place in the standby players list as there’s only one genuine wicketkeeper i.e. KS Bharat in the original 15-member squad for the WTC final.