The Cricketer provides all the information you need ahead of the World Test Championship final between Australia and India...
The final of the ICC's World Test Championship between Australia and India.
The final is scheduled between Wednesday, June 7 and Sunday, June 11 with play beginning at 10.30am GMT. A reserve day, if required, is pencilled in for Monday, June 12.
The first Test will take place at the Kia Oval.
The culmination of the 2021-2023 World Test Championship cycle will see two powerhouses of the game fight for one of the most coveted prizes in cricket.
For Australia, having missed out on the 2021 final due to a points deduction for a slow over-rate their progress marks a vindication of their pedigree as a Test team.
They qualified for the final after finishing first in the 2021/23 points table, with their successful campaign kickstarted by a 4-0 victory over England in the Ashes. Series victories over Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa followed. Their only real blemish, other than a one-off loss to Sri Lanka, was their 2-1 series loss in India.
India, meanwhile, will be hoping it's second time lucky. After losing the inaugural final to New Zealand, they are back for another bite at ending their wait for a major ICC trophy, a gap which goes back to the 2011 50-over World Cup win on home soil.
Stand-out results for Rohit Sharma's side include home wins over Australia and New Zealand, a 2-2 draw with England (a series during which they won at the Kia Oval, venue for this year's final) and a win in Bangladesh. The only defeat of the cycle came in South Africa in 2021/22.
Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma will lead Australia and India, respectively (Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Australia's 15-strong squad sees Marcus Harris and Josh Inglis back in contention.
They will join the ranks of a proven batting core that has retained its place in the squad, spearheaded by Usman Khawaja and David Warner. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have spent the build-up preparing in county cricket with Sussex and Glamorgan, respectively.
Four specialist quicks make the cut for their bowling attack in Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland who will be supported by spinners Todd Murphy and Nathan Lyon.
Reserves Matt Renshaw and the returning Mitch Marsh are helping the team prepare alongside Michael Neser and Sean Abbott, who are on the standby list.
Those overlooked include Cameron Bancroft who was not selected despite finishing the summer as leading run-scorer in the Marsh Sheffield Shield, while Peter Handscomb also misses out despite featuring in their last series versus India.
India, meanwhile, welcome Ajinkya Rahane back into the mix as a replacement for the injured Shreyas Iyer.
This is a welcome change of fortunes for Rahane who did not receive a BCCI central contract last month, having last represented India in a Test against South Africa in January 2022.
India will hope to repeat their series victory over Australia from earlier in the year (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Jasprit Bumrah is ruled out with a back injury, while there is no place for Suryakumar Yadav who failed to impress in his one appearance in last year's home series against Australia.
Elsewhere, KS Bharat is included as the only frontline wicketkeeper, with KL Rahul expected to take the gloves if needed. Ishan Kishan was enlisted to replace the injured KL Rahul.
Jaydev Unadkat, who made a Test comeback after nearly 11 years in Bangladesh last December, keeps his spot while the core batting and bowling line-ups that have guided India to the final remain unchanged.
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Standby players: Mitch Marsh, Matthew Renshaw
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk)
Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
A wet spring has made way for a dry start to the English summer. Full days of play should be possible across the start of the match and into the weekend, with temperatures sitting at around 21 degrees Celsius.
Australia are the favourites with the bookmakers offering evens for them to come out on top. India are available as outsiders at 7/4. A draw, which would see the trophy shared, can be back at 9/2.
The Kia Oval will play host to the showpiece occasion (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for Surrey CCC)
Seven Network has secured exclusive Australian broadcast and digital rights to the World Test Championship Final for 2023.
The Star Sports network holds the broadcast rights for the event in India. Disney+Hotstar will also carry the match.
Sky Sports have the rights to coverage in the UK, while Test Match Special will be providing ball-by-ball radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, which is accessible through the BBC Sport website and app or BBC Sounds.
In New Zealand, SEN and SENZ have secured broadcast rights to the series while Supersport will show the game in South Africa.
For fans in the USA and Canada, Willow TV will show the final alongside Hotstar and ESPN+, Yupp TV have the rights in Pakistan and in the Caribbean followers must tune into Flow Sports.
ICC.tv will broadcast the Test globally via their online platform.
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