The stage is set for the high-octane World Test Championship (WTC) Final clash between India and Australia at the iconic Kennington Oval in London, starting June 7. Having been the runners-up, Team India will be looking to end their trophy drought and win the WTC Final this time around. In the inaugural season, they faced an 8-wicket defeat from Kane Williamson-led New Zealand.
Australia, who missed their chance to make it to the final last year, will also focus on adding another ICC Trophy to their illustrious cabinet. Explosive opener Rohit Sharma will be leading the Indian team, while the Aussies will be captained by Pat Cummins.
Ahead of the epic summit clash, cricket legends such as Ricky Ponting, Wasim Akram, Ravi Shastri, Ross Taylor and Ian Bell have revealed their analysis and laid down their predictions regarding the WTC Final 2021-23 winner.
In a video shared by Star Sports, these iconic figures of the captivating sport picked their choices and gave reasons while reviewing the team combinations and other factors of India and Australia.
Ravi Shastri – Early momentum will give an advantage
Shastri did not directly pick a team and reckoned that the early momentum in the match would be key when play gets underway on Wednesday. Shastri opined that Aussie skipper Pat Cummins and India pacer Mohammad Shami would be the key players in the summit clash.
“When I see current form, both of these teams have not played the longer duration of the game for quite some time. India have played a lot of T20 cricket, Australia on the other hand – barring (Steve) Smith and (Marnus) Labuschagne who played a bit of country cricket – haven’t played for the longer periods of time. I think the first punch will count on day one. I think Pat Cummins will be charged up for Australia, and I think Mohammed Shami for India (will be key),” said Shastri.
Ricky Ponting – Australia are just favourite
Ponting picked Australia as the favourites. He believed that due to India’s selection challenges and the tough English conditions, Rohit Sharma’s team is slightly at a disadvantage compared to the Aussies.
“Australia are just favourites. India have got a couple of little uncertain areas in their team I think in terms of how selection and injuries are concerned. I think Australia are going to be a lot more settled and then when you think about conditions here as well, these early June conditions probably more like Australian conditions than they are Indian conditions,” said Ponting.
Wasim Akram – Australia are slight favourites
Akram was of the opinion that, typically, the oval track tends to favour sub-continent teams around August. However, he noticed that the conditions in June were distinct and would work in favour of Australia’s attack, giving them a slight edge.
“This pitch usually favours teams from the sub-continent, but whenever we toured here… we played our last Test match here at the end of August or the first week of September. But this is happening first week of June, so the square is different, and the ball is different all together as a Dukes. So I think going into this Test match Australia are slightly favourites,” asserted Akram.
Ross Taylor – In favour of Australia
Taylor, who smashed the winning runs when the Black Caps defeated India in the 2021 WTC Final, reckoned that the toss would be the deciding factor in the summit clash. He believed that India would surely gonna miss Jasprit Bumrah and that Australia, with more experience playing here, would be the favourites.
“Whoever wins the toss, it’ll be interesting to see how much grass they do leave on the wicket. Losing Bumrah is a massive loss for India. So I think the toss will play a part, but the early prediction I’d say just slightly in favour of Australia probably because of the injuries that India have but also because of the experience that Australia have in playing over here,” said Taylor.
Ian Bell – Batting units are the ones to keep an eye on
Bell, the former England cricketer, felt that the batting department would leave a massive impact and make the difference in the mega showdown.
“It’ll be fascinating to see how both teams go about it. We know there’s two world-class bowling attacks going at each other, it’ll be how many runs you can score. That’s the thing in England – if you can go big you can put a lot of pressure on people at the back end. So I think the batting units are the ones to keep an eye on,” said Bell.
