Rohit Sharma

India will be aiming for their third title and the second at home when they begin their campaign in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup against Australia in Chennai on October 8. The hosts will play all their nine league matches at different venues including the new Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

After suffering a crushing defeat in the WTC final, India skipper had called for the WTC Final to be played as a three-game series. "You work hard for two years and then you have only one shot at it. Test cricket is all about finding that rhythm, finding that momentum as well. So, I think, if in the next cycle, if it is possible, a three-match series would be ideal," Rohit had said.

Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar expressed his belief that the Indian team is likely to witness a significant change in its composition as he does not expect many senior players to be in the Indian team two years down the line. "I think two years down the road, I am pretty certain, there won't be too many of the senior players. I would be very surprised.

On the fourth day of the match, Gill fell when Scott Boland extracted an outside edge off his defensive prod, and the ball flew low to Green's left at third slip. The tall all-rounder took out his left hand and took a one-handed screamer, with Kettleborough adjudging it as a clean catch after viewing multiple replays of it.

On the second day of the Test, they compounded their error of not batting first after winning the toss with a tragic top order batting failure. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill looked comfortable. But the former was caught plumb in front to an incoming ball as he often is. His opposite number Pat Cummins benefited.

Both captains Rohit and Pat Cummins will be playing their 50th Test match through the WTC final. The winner of the 2023 WTC final will become the first team to win all ICC titles in men's international cricket.

Undoubtedly, India's team has been the most consistent one over the past two WTC cycles. They have also managed to reach knockout phases of major white-ball tournaments over the last 10 years but a trophy has eluded them. On the other hand, Australia will be looking to add to their enviable collection of world titles after missing.

Boland will pace in place of Josh Hazlewood, edging out Michael Neser, a late injury replacement to the 15-man WTC squad. Neser had been called into the Australian squad for the WTC final on Sunday after Hazlewood was ruled out of the marquee match due to his ongoing left Achilles and left side issue.

"It's like a World Cup final, for a Test match. In a World Cup, you play 10 or 12 games to be good enough to earn the right to win a mace like that. These two teams have over the last two years have earned the right to be out here, in a couple of days time, in a one-off game, to be able to hold that thing (mace) at the end," said Ponting at a pre-game live event organised by ICC.

India will take Australia on at The Oval in the final of the 2021-2023 cycle of the World Test Championship at The Oval, London from June 7 to 11. After the World Test Championship [2021 Final] in Southampton, we quickly had to regroup and get ready for the next cycle. I thought in that cycle we played some really, really tough cricket.