India won the toss and opted to bowl in the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval, on Wednesday (June 7). At the toss, Pat Cummins, the Australia skipper, said that he too would have bowled first.
The Rohit Sharma-led Indian side has gone in with four seamers – Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur. Ravindra Jadeja is the lone spinner in the side, while R Ashwin has been left out. KS Bharat will don the gloves. On the other hand, Australia had already announced their XI, with Scott Boland playing ahead of Josh Hazlewood, who is yet to make a complete recovery from his Achilles’ injury.
The pitch has a good grass cover, perhaps around 4mm. The Dukes ball would be expected to move off the seam early on, and there could also be swing under overcast skies, and once the lacquer comes off. The weather report for the day’s play suggested that it would remain overcast, although there is little or no chance of rain. “It’s cold, there’s a bit of wind and it’s overcast,” said Kumar Sangakkara. “There’ll be swing. There’s a lovely green covering of grass, so there’ll be seam as well. You’ll have very good bounce here.”
The Oval has previously hosted 104 Tests, going back to 1880. But this is the first time a Test has been played at that ground in June.
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.