NEW DELHI: India recalled middle-order bat­s­man Ajinkya Rahane on Tuesday for the World Test Championship (WTC) fin­al against Australia at the Oval in June.

Former vice-captain Ra­h­ane played the last of his 82 Tests in January 2022 but has been in impr­essive form in the ongoing Indian Premier League T20 tournament.

With Shreyas Iyer sidelined due to a back injury which required surgery, India have gone back to Rahane, who averages 49.44 in Tests with 12 centuries to his name.

KS Bharat retained his place behind the stumps with first-choice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant continuing his recovery from a car crash in December.

India will also be without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who is completing his rehabilitation after undergoing a back operation last month.

Captain Rohit Sharma’s 15-member squad includes six specialist batters and three spin all-rounders - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

India reached the final of the inaugural WTC in June 2021 but lost by eight wickets to New Zealand in a rain-hit contest in Southampton.

Australia announced their squad for the June 7-11 contest earlier this month.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravicha­ndran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shar­dul Thakur, Moham­med Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2023