Gavaskar drops ‘Rahane’ truth bomb, makes surprise pick for India's XI for WTC Final vs Australia

Sunil Gavaskar has shared his views about Ajinkya Rahane's return to the Indian side for the World Test Championship final against Australia.

Does a veteran of 82 Test matches audition for his place by plying trade in T20 cricket? The curious case of Ajinkya Rahane was a major talking point in the cricket spectrum when the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star returned to the Indian squad for the forthcoming final of the ICC World Test Championship between Rohit Sharma's Team India and Australia on Tuesday. After being omitted from the central contracts list shared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the ongoing season, Rahane went on to become MS Dhoni's go-to-man in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

Gavaskar shared his views about Rahane's return (ANI-Getty Images)

At a time when Rahane was making headlines with his quick-fire knocks for CSK in the IPL 2023, Rahul Dravid-coached Team India was finalising the final squad for the summit clash of the World Test Championship. Already missing the services of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, Dravid and Co. were also tasked to replace an injured Shreyas Iyer with a premier batter in their middle-order department. Overlooking the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, the Indian think tank sanctioned the return of a tried and tested Rahane for the Ultimate Test at the Kennington Oval.

Speaking to Star Sports on the Cricket Live show, batting legend Gavaskar welcomed the inclusion of Rahane into the Test side for the World Test Championship final against Australia. "That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season. The question now is in the final eleven, who's going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. We'll just have to wait and see," Gavaskar said.

Interestingly, Gavaskar also named former vice-captain Rahane in his Indian playing XI for the summit clash against Pat Cummins' Australia. Out-of-favour batter KL Rahul also featured in Gavaskar's Indian XI for the Test Championship showdown. Preferring Rahul over classical wicketkeeper KS Bharat, the former India skipper backed the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper to keep wickets for Rohit and Co. in the Test Championship against Australia. "Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will be my opening picks, Cheteshwar Pujara at three, Virat Kohli at four, Ajinkya Rahane at five, KL Rahul at six who'll keep the wickets as well. Then there will be Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, followed by Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami and Mohd Siraj," Gavaskar concluded. India will meet Australia in the ICC World Test Championship final 2023 on June 7 at Kennington Oval.