WTC Final 2023: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli In or Out? India and Australia Combined XI after Final

Australia, on the other hand, completed a full circle by becoming the only team to win all ICC trophies in history. It was a dominating performance from the Aussies as they mauled India by 209 runs at the Oval.

It has been mostly a disappointing outing for the Indian players, but some of them shone in patches. Contrastingly, most of the Australian players had an outstanding game as players across the numbers played their part in the victory.

As the match is done and dusted, we can concentrate on forming a combined Test XI from both teams according to the performance in the Final. Consider it more as the top 11 players across the two teams. And although a pre-match combined XI would have seen a plethora of India players in it, the post-match one has seen a significant drop in that-

Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t even feature

Ravichandran Ashwin, who would have been in the pre-match combined XI, doesn’t even get a chance to feature as he was not even selected to play the Final, a decision which has been widely criticized. Ashwin had an outstanding WTC cycle and he ended as India’s highest wicket-taker in this two-year period.

It was just unfortunate that the No. 1 ranked Test bowler didn’t even get a chance to showcase his mettle at the grandest stage.

India and Australia Combined XI Post WTC Final 2023

Here is the combined XI of India and Australia after the WTC Final 2023-

Openers

David Warner and Rohit Sharma

Based on the stats from the match, we had to go with David Warner and Rohit Sharma. The India captain played a decent knock of 43 runs in the second innings, although it was way short of what was expected, but still, his aggregate score was more than both Usman Khawaja and Shubman Gill.

Khawaja, who has been excellent for Australia in this WTC cycle, failed miserably in the final.

Top Order and Middle Order

Steve Smith, Travis Head, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja

It can’t get any easier than this. Steve Smith and Travis Head are two automatic choices after their centuries in the first innings. India’s Ajinkya Rahane also had a fantastic outing with the bat but he was unfortunate to not have enough support around him.

People may argue with Virat Kohli’s performance as the batter scored 49 runs in the second innings, but it just had no impact on the game. Perhaps the King Kohli would have made the team had he not played that awfully controlled drive in the 2nd innings.

Ravindra Jadeja comes in over Cameron Green for his spin bowling ability. The Indian all-rounder fared well in the match with both bat and ball.

Wicketkeeper

Alex Carey

Alex Carey had an excellent game. Although it was largely unnoticed, Carey scored 48 and 66 runs in the two innings respectively. He held things together and scored some pivotal runs for the Aussies lower down the order.

Along with his batting, Carey shone in his primary role as a wicket-keeper as well, plucking six catches across both innings.

Bowlers

Pat Cummins (C), Mohammed Siraj, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon

The Australia captain gets to lead the combined XI and gets in the side for his decision-making and bowling performance across two innings. Scott Boland was excellent with the ball and bamboozled the Indian batters.

India’s solitary representative is Mohammed Siraj, who had an excellent game. He set the tone earlier on the 1st day and bowled with aggression and purpose. He ended up with 5 wickets in the match.

Nathan Lyon gets his place for his excellent bowling in the 2nd innings. The experienced off-spinner would be an excellent foil for Ravindra Jadeja as well, and with no Ashwin, it was just a no-brainer to include Lyon in the team.

Combined XI Team

Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Travis Head, Ravindra Jadeja, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Mohammed Siraj