The Test series between India and Australia was a testimony of how the Rohit Sharma-led side has performed at the home over the last one decade. Their dominance at the home just extended as they thumped the visitors by 2-1 and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the 4th consecutive time.
However, the bigger challenge now awaits them as they will clash with Australia in the final of the World Test Championship, in conditions completely different from what they had in the recently concluded Test series. But now the question that is in the mind of every Indian fan is how will they fare in the summit clash and when will they prepare for the clash considering the two-month IPL ahead.
Rohit Sharma makes a bold statement for Test players who will play IPL followed by the WTC Final 2023
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 is all to take place from 31st March. It’ll be a two-month-long tournament with the final set to take place on 28th May. On the other hand, the final of the World Test Championship is slated to be played between the 7th to 11th of June in The Oval, England.
Except for Cheteshwar Pujara, almost every Indian player affiliated with the red-ball team will part of the IPL and it’s fair to say that they won’t get the desired time to prepare themselves for the summit clash.
It has been quite evident that due to the cash-rich league, the Indian team has struggled to get going in the series right after the IPL due to the lack the preparation and if there’s no proper management, we might see the same thing happening this time around too.
In English conditions, where the ball swings and bounces a lot, it’ll be a tough challenge for Indian batters to overcome and for that matter bowlers too as they need to get acquainted with the dukes ball as well, which is quite different from SG ball, used in India for Tests.
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However, with all the questions surrounding the preparations of the Indian team for the WTC Final amid the IPL, skipper Rohit Sharma has made a bold statement. He revealed that team management will provide duke balls to the Test players during the league so that they will prepare.
Speaking to reporters after the 4th Test against Australia, Rohit said: “We will monitor the workload and bowlers will be given duke balls during IPL for practice ahead of WTC final. By May 21st, 6 teams Will be out of IPL so we will try to get those players early to UK”.
WTC Final 2023: Rohit Sharma & Co manages to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship despite draw in Ahmedabad Test against Australia
Ahead of the 4th Test against Australia, India’s team was under tremendous pressure to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship, especially after what happened in Indore. They were desperate for the win and had that happened they would’ve made it into the summit clash.
But, New Zealand came to their rescue as they pounded Sri Lanka by 2 wickets to eliminate them from the race of the final and make way for India. Not only did the Rohit Sharma-led side win the series by the margin of 2-1 against Australia but they also qualified for the final. They will now face Australia in the WTC Final at The Oval, England in June this year. Notably, they for the second consecutive time qualified for the final.
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