NEW DELHI (AP): Ajinkya Rahane has been recalled to India’s squad for next month’s World Test Championship final against Australia as one of six specialist batters in the 15-man squad.
The 34-year-old Rahane has been in boundary-hitting form in the Twenty20 format in the Indian Premier League, but he hasn’t played a test match since January of last year.
Rohit Sharma will lead the squad announced Tuesday for the WTC decider starting June 7 at The Oval in London. India lost the inaugural WTC final in 2022 to New Zealand. Rohit’s squad is coming off a 2-1 win over Australia in a four-match test series in India.
Rahane, who played the last of his 82 tests in South Africa at Cape Town 15 months ago, joins Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and KL Rahul in the batting group.
Srikar Bharat, who played in all four tests against Australia in February and March, was the only specialist wicketkeeper selected in the squad.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and batter Shreyas Iyer missed selection because of back injuries.
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India lineup: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Srikar Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
