"Look for conditions before picking playing XI," MSK Prasad warns Indian team

Former Indian selector MSK Prasad cautioned Indian team of conditions ahead of the WTC final.

Lots of discussions and suggestions are coming about how India’s playing XI against Australia should look like. India and Australia both are taking on each other for their maiden World Test Championship title. The WTC final is scheduled to start on 7th June at The Oval. Team India have suffered from a few massive injuries with their key match-winning players. Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer are out of the WTC final due to injuries. This has brought a little instability in Team India’s selection process. Former Indian wicket-keeper and selector MSK Prasad has cautioned India for not going in with a pre-decided mindset and to look for the conditions to pick their best XI.

India paid the price in WTC 2021 Final

Talking about India’s playing XI, Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad said, “It all depends on conditions at the Oval. This is the actual story of the movie, the pitch, and the conditions. We don’t know how they will be over five days, so we should not pre-fix our minds and understand the conditions and back your instincts”. India tasted defeat against New Zealand in the previous edition final in Southampton. India went in with two spinners with a pre-decided mindset and due to overcast and rainy conditions, they lacked a pacer in the end ultimately losing to New Zealand by 8 wickets in the big final. 

MSK Prasad also talked about the mistake India made with their playing XI selection in the previous edition. He said, “We went with two spinners and three fast bowlers in mind but subsequently there was rain, we should have changed our plans, somehow we stuck to the same eleven but that is in the past now”. As per the reports from team management, Team India are once again preparing to go with 3 fast bowlers and 2 spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. India going in with 2 spinners at The Oval wicket will not be a poor choice as well.