India weighing up picking Ashwin, Australia settled for world test final

LONDON (AP) — India is still weighing up whether to play Ravichandran Ashwin as the second spinner while Australia's lineup is all but confirmed for their World Test Championship final from Wednesday at the Oval.

Australia captain Pat Cummins said on Tuesday that seamer Scott Boland will play and there will “be no surprises” in the XI. Australia, after the tour of India in March, will revert to a more balanced lineup with five specialists batters, Cameron Green as the allrounder, Alex Carey wearing the gloves, three seamers and first-choice spinner Nathan Lyon.

India will wait until the morning and a final check of the pitch before committing to Ashwin, around which there is often a debate when he's in England.

Ashwin is the world's No. 1-ranked test bowler and second to fellow spinner Ravindra Jadeja in the allrounder rankings. Jadeja's better batting prowess gives him a start.

Jadeja and Ashwin combined in the first WTC final against New Zealand in 2021 in Southampton but Ashwin didn't play against England in the four tests that year and the fifth in 2022.

The Oval offers up spin later in a match but that is usually at the end of summer. This is the first test to be played at the Oval before July. The three County Championship matches there this season have hardly featured any spin.

“I'm not saying that Ashwin is not going to play,” India captain Rohit Sharma said. "We'll wait until tomorrow because one thing I have seen here, the pitch actually changes quite a bit day to day. Today it's looking this way, tomorrow it might be slightly different, who knows?

“So the message to the boys has been very clear. All 15 must be ready to play at any point in time.”

If Ashwin doesn't play on what's expected to be a pitch full of pace and bounce, then India will match Australia and play four quicks, backing up Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj likely with Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav. Thakur adds batting depth and Yadav played in the 2021 Oval test win against England, taking six wickets and scoring 35 runs.

Boland was picked by Australia ahead of Michael Neser, who joined the official squad at the weekend after an injured Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the final to be saved for the Ashes.

Boland has impressed since his test debut during the home 2021-22 Ashes series. From seven tests he has 28 wickets at a stunning average of 13.42.

He played in the first test of the India tour in Nagpur but was sidelined for the rest of the series after Australia went with three spinners.

He and Green will play their first tests in England. The 34-year-old Boland's only previous experience in Britain was in 2018 on a tour with the Australian Indigenous side.

But Cummins was confident Boland will excel in English conditions with the Dukes ball.

“Someone like Scotty, it's just a really simple game plan: You hit your good areas and you stay there all day and hopefully the ball will do the work for you,” Cummins said. “He's had a few bowls over here now and has looked good, but he looks good whenever he bowls.”

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