After the end of IPL 2023, Team India has to play the final of the World Test Championship against Australia at the Oval ground in London. Earlier, India's former head coach Ravi Shastri selected a mixed playing-11 of both the teams that will reach the final. He has taken many surprising decisions in making this team. In a recent episode of ICC Review, Shastri admitted that he found the task of building a combined playing XI tough because of the world-class talent present in both teams. However, the India legend picked the playing-11 and surprisingly named only four Indian players in the squad.

Shastri decided to go with Rohit Sharma instead of Pat Cummins or Steve Smith as the captain of the team. Shastri was quoted as saying by the ICC, "I will give the captaincy to Rohit because he is much more experienced than Pat. Rohit has been captaining for a long time. Had Steve Smith been the captain of Australia, maybe it would have been a different story, but since The comparison is between Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma, so Rohit will be the best. Also, Rohit opens the batting.

Shastri had to choose between David Warner, Usman Khawaja, and Shubman Gill as Rohit's partners. In such a situation, the former India coach decided to go with Usman Khawaja. Only England star Joe Root has scored more runs than Usman Khawaja in the 2012-23 cycle of the World Test Championship.

Shastri admitted that there is tough competition between Usman Khawaja and Shubman Gill. He said- Shubman is a rising young star and he is a great player, but with Usman Khawaja's current form and the number of runs he has scored in the last few years, I think he deserves to be selected. Shastri said picking No.3, No.4 and No.5 was an easy decision. He picked Marnus Labuschagne, veteran Virat Kohli and Steve Smith for these three spots.

Shastri replaced Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in the team for number six. Shastri said, "At number six I will go with Jadeja as I believe he is one of the best all-rounders in the world." achieved the position.

Simultaneously, Shastri admitted that he found it difficult to drop veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pick Nathan Lyon as the front-line spinner in his XI. Shastri said, 'I chose Nathan Lyon ahead of Ashwin because Nathan's overseas record is excellent. He is the strongest player to bowl those overs not only in Australia, but outside Australia and probably in England if need be. The pair of Jadeja and Nathan can prove to be fatal.

Shastri said it was relatively easy to decide on the pace of attack. He replaced Australia's experienced left-arm fast bowlers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Mohammed Shami in the playing-11. Shastri said- Cummins is a great fast bowler for me and Mohammed Shami is getting better with time.

Shastri kept players like Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Josh Hazlewood out of the mixed playing-11. He said- It was a difficult decision to choose a mixed playing-11 because Ashwin is a world-class bowler. You have options like Hazelwood which is world class. Pujara can be dangerous for any team. So it was not easy.

India-Australia Mixed Playing-11: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mohammed Shami.

(pc amarujala)