WTC Final: Yashasvi Replaces Ruturaj Gaikwad as Stand-by Player in Indian Squad

Yashasvi Jaiswal was Rajasthan Royals' highest-scorer in IPL 2023.

IPL's star Yashasvi Jaiswal has received his first India call-up, albeit as a reserve player, as the final squad lists of the 2023 World Test Championship final were announced by the ICC on Sunday.

The ICC confirmed the 15-member squads and reserve players for both India and Australia ahead of the big game to be played at The Oval from June 7-11.

For India, Jaiswal, the in-form left-handed opener has been included as a stand-by player alongside middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav and right-arm pacer Mukesh Kumar.

Jaiswal, who amassed 625 runs in 14 innings of IPL 2023 for Rajasthan Royals, including a century and five fifties, replaces Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is reportedly getting married in the initial days of June.

In the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy, Jaiswal scored 315 runs in five matches, averaging 45, including making a fifty and a century. He went on to make 213 and 144 in the Irani Trophy for the Rest of India against Madhya Pradesh, with his aggregate of 357 runs in the match the most-ever for a batter in an Irani Trophy match.

Fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat have been confirmed to be in the 15-member squad despite picking hamstring and shoulder injuries in IPL 2023, so has wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who suffered an accidental collision during Friday's Qualifier 2 match in Ahmedabad.

For Australia, pacer Josh Hazlewood has been deemed fit enough to be in the final 15-member squad despite recently returning to bowling after recovering from a minor side niggle which led to him returning early from IPL 2023.

Fast-bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and left-handed batter Matthew Renshaw are the reserve players, with no places for the pace all-rounder pair of Michael Neser and Sean Abbott.

ICC also said that the 2023 WTC Final has 12 June earmarked as a reserve day to make up for any loss of play on the scheduled five days.

This is the second edition of the WTC, which was introduced in 2019 to add context to the longest format of the game. New Zealand were the champions of the inaugural edition, beating India by eight wickets in the final in Southampton in 2021. The winners of this year's WTC Final will take home a purse of 1.6 million dollars while the losers will get 800,000 dollars.

WTC Final Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.

Reserves: Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Renshaw

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav.

Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav