With just over a month left for the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Team India squad for the contest is likely to be announced within a couple of days.
The selectors are expected to make a few surprising decisions and could also axe some big names as a report in Cricbuzz has said that the squad will consist of at least four openers, about four to five middle-order batsmen, eight to nine pacers, four to five spinners and two to three wicketkeeper.
The pace attack could have a surprise inclusion in Prasidh Krishna, who could face a competition from Delhi’s Navdeep Saini. however, the team management is believed to be impressed with Krishna, who impressed everyone in the three ODIs he played against England in March this year.
The other pacers who could get a berth are likley Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur.
On the other side, the big question is whether to retain Hardik Pandya or not as the Baroda all-rounder has not bowled even in the Twenty20 games recently.
Meanwhile, Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw, who performed well in the postponed season of the IPL, might miss the flight as the squad will already have four specialist openers like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.