Team India has declared their further-trimmed 15-member team for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, which will be played in Southampton beginning Friday.
KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, and Washington Sundar are among the most important names to have missed the final fifteen for the one-off Test.
One of the most talented batters in the cricket world, KL Rahul’s skip has upset several fans. Even Axar Patel’s omission from the team has surprised fans.
In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, the all-rounder made an extraordinary start to his Test career in the current India-England series.
🗒️ #TeamIndia announce their 15-member squad for the #WTC21 Final 💪 👇 pic.twitter.com/ts9fK3j89t
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 15, 2021
Several fans took to Twitter to express their frustration at the exclusion of KL Rahul and Axar Patel. Here are some of their responses:
I feel bad for #MayankAgarwal, he was the highest run scorer in the tournament with two double tons until his place got robbed after one bad series and we all knew that #KLRahul won't get a chance anyhow. I wish bcci would have sent them for SL tour 😔💔 pic.twitter.com/XTeT2toxWz
— CoMrAdE (@saaho_hammid) June 15, 2021
Where is Axar Patel? He did a great job against England and still didn't get place in indian squad! .. weird
— Dheeraj Brela (@DheerajKBrela) June 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/shubhamxbajaj/status/1404795247624867842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1404795247624867842%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportskeeda.com%2Fcricket%2Fnews-kl-rahul-axar-patel-s-omission-india-s-15-member-squad-world-test-championship-wtc-final-upsets-fans-twitter-reaction
Where is Axar Patel? https://t.co/7hqouX6HC7
— Abhishek ✨ (@ImAbhishek7_) June 15, 2021
Axar Patel for Umesh Yadav. Better fielder & also in case of concussion you need a like for like for jadeja/Ashwin.
Playing 11 was obvious. https://t.co/MBb8R4lS7d— Pradhyoth (@Pradhyoth1) June 15, 2021
Would have been selected kl Rahul instead of Saha
— Satish Kumar N (@kumar_nagubandi) June 15, 2021
Not happy with the squad.. Kl Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are more better then Shubman Gill.
— Ananya Ved (@AnanyaVed1) June 15, 2021
WHERE IS #KLRAHUL ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????😢😢😢😢😢
— DASU DS (@Dasuds143) June 15, 2021
Why KL Rahul, Axar Patel, and co. will miss the Sri Lanka tour
KL Rahul, Axar Patel, and the other Indian cricketers who were part of the 23-member Test team and didn’t make it to the final 15 won’t highlight in the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka. The extended team has been picked for the complete tour of England, which will end in September 2021.
KL Rahul was India’s opener in their early tour of England in 2018. Debuting at the MCG in December 2014, he was thought of as a long-run prospect in Tests before losing his place owing to a string of bad scores.
One of India’s important players in the white-ball setup, KL Rahul, hasn’t played a Test in almost 2 years. He has played 36 Tests for India, complete scoring 2,006 runs at an average of 34.58.
While Axar Patel made his Test debut in the 2nd Chennai Test against England in February.
Getting a Player of the Match award on his debut, the all-rounder outshone Ravichandran Ashwin and ended up bagging 27 wickets in three Tests at an average of 10.59.
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