WTC Final: Is Rahane the ideal replacement for Shreyas Iyer? Experts and fans react to batter's comeback

Ajinkya Rahane, who has added a dash of aggression to his batting style, made a comeback to the Indian team on Tuesday for the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 15-man squad for the one-off contest.

The WTC Final will be played in London at The Oval from June 7 to 11. Aggressive batter Suryakumar Yadav, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and young stumper-batter Ishan Kishan, who were all part of the home series against Australia, have been dropped for the contest. BCCI's five-person selection panel, Secretary Jay Shah, skipper Rohit Sharma, and Rahul Dravid, met on Monday evening to decide on the squad.

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Rahane's comeback after 15 months was on predictable lines following Shreyas Iyer's back injury that ruled him out of the grand finale. Iyer recently underwent surgery in the United Kingdom (UK) to treat stress fractures in his lower back. That Rahane was in contention was reported by PTI in its report on April 10.

Rahane last played a Test in January 2022 against South Africa in Cape Town. His selection has more to do with carrying enough experienced batters in the line-up, as Indian teams have struggled in SENA countries during one-off games like these. The 34-year-old, who led Mumbai during the entire domestic season, scored nearly 700 runs, but what stood out was how he has improved his attacking game in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and is looking more purposeful than ever before with a strike rate of 190 in seven games so far.

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The rest of the squad led by Rohit was on predictable lines. However, there is no designated vice-captain for the WTC Final, although it is expected that Chesteshwar Pujara, Rohit's deputy in the last two Test matches against Australia at home, would be asked to do the job again. Pujara is currently leading Sussex in the English County Championship.

KS Bharat is the only specialist wicketkeeper in the 15-man squad, while young Kishan, Kuldeep and Suryakumar lost their place in the team. Since it is a one-off game, the selectors may not have found it logical to have a second keeper in the side. There is a chance that team management might try struggling KL Rahul not only as a middle order but also as a keeper, and Rahane could play as an extra batter.

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Suryakumar could feel hard done by as he got to play only one Test which isn't an indicator of a cricketer's long-format abilities. Still, Sharma and Dravid wanted more experience in the batting department. At least four bowling all-rounders are in the squad, including Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur.

With the Oval usually assisting spinners during later stages of the game, a second slow bowler could come in handy. Batting deep will be the Indian team's mantra, and that's been the basis of selection for the one-off game. In overseas conditions, Jadeja is more of a batting all-rounder, and Axar is also becoming a specialist middle-order batter.

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Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur will be in contention for the first three seam bowling slots. The only man who might not be in the race to be selected in the playing XI is Jaydev Unadkat, the fifth seamer. He could help the batters prepare for Mitchell Starc's left arm angle, although it will be difficult for the Saurashtra veteran to match the New South Wales man's pace.

India's Test squad WTC final: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat.

Here's what other Twitter users had to say about Rahane's comeback into the team in place of Iyer: