Ishan Kishan called up to India's squad for World Test Championship final to replace KL Rahul
- Planet Sport writer
- 9 May 2023
India have called up uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan to their squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Australia following an injury to KL Rahul.
Ishan Kishan has replaced the injured KL Rahul in India's squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia that starts on 7 June at the Oval.
Rahul was ruled out of the showpiece match that takes place at the Oval in England after suffering a thigh injury while playing for the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL.
The 24-year-old Kishan is yet to play Test cricket but is a regular in India's limited-overs squads having played 14 ODIs and 27 T20Is.
He has appeared in 48 first-class matches and scored 2985 runs at an average of 38.76 with six hundreds, and in the recent four-day Ranji Trophy season he played just two games and scored 180 runs while averaging 45.
Kishan is the second wicketkeeper in the squad for the WTC final behind KS Bharat, who had recently made his Test debut against Australia at home in February in the absence of Rishabh Pant.
Bharat played in four Test matches in the series and scored a total of 101 runs with a high score of 44.
Fast bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav have also joined the injury list but have not yet been ruled out of the WTC final that starts on 7 June.
Seamer Mukesh Kumar as well as batters Suryakumar Yadav and Ruturaj Gaikwad have been named as reserve players in India's squad.
Among them, only Suryakumar has Test-match experience, having made his debut against Australia in Nagpur in February.
India squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (capt.), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
