Middle Order: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer
India would prefer the services of dependable Cheteshwar Pujara at three. Ever since The Wall Rahul Dravid retired, it is Pujara’s for the taking. He’ll be equally supported by Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer in the middle order.
While Pujara has the ability to hold down one end, Kohli and Iyer keep the scoreboard moving, and can even change gears to play fast cricket if the situation demands so. Pujara’s grit and Kohli’s resilience make them a great duo and India would not want to change the dynamic between the two. Kohli’s century in the final Test against Australia has given the team management a sense of hope and relief that he has still got it.
As for Shreyas Iyer, his numbers do the talking for him. Even though his Test career is very young and he has featured in just 8 games, Iyer has shown that the team management can depend upon him to counter a collapse and score big runs. However, Iyer recently suffered an injury and it is still unknown when he will make a comeback. If he is not well before the WTC final, the Indian team could go for someone like Hanuma Vihari in the middle order, who used to hold the position before Iyer replaced him in the squad. Sarfaraz Khan and Suryakumar Yadav too seem like good options but the team management would not like to conduct any experiments at the final stage.
