IND vs AUS, WTC Final: Dinesh Karthik Lands in London, Shares First Look of the Pitch at The Oval – See Photos

Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has arrived in London for his commentary duties in the World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and Australia, starting Wednesday. And just like the previous edition, he has begun providing updates from the venue.

On Monday, Karthik shared the first glimpse of the pitch to be used for the marquee clash between the two heavyweights of Test cricket. A cover of green grass could be seen on the surface, however, there were still two days to go and the same was mentioned in Karthik’s tweet.

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“Two days to go for the #WTCFinal and this is how the pitch looks like. What is your playing XI gonna be?” Karthik’s tweet read.

Karthik, who was recently seen in action during IPL 2023, is part of the commentary team for the WTC final. He will be seen sharing the mic with some legendary cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Kumar Sangakkara, and Ravi Shastri among others.

Earlier, speaking about the Indian squad for the WTC Final, Karthik had mentioned that the absence of Jasprit Bumrah is a huge miss for Rohit Sharma & Co.

“Jasprit Bumrah is a huge miss for any team and in any format as he’s a force to reckon with. But a couple of key bowlers are in great form in Mohammed Siraj and Mohammad Shami who have bowled really well throughout the IPL,” Karthik had told ICC in a conversation.

“It’s only a question of how much their bodies will be ready to play the rigours of five-day cricket. That is going to be the big question,” he added.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid insisted his team is not feeling any pressure going into the showpiece face-off against the Aussies.

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India lost the inaugural WTC final to New Zealand in 2021 and have been guilty of faltering in knockout games.

“No, not at all. I mean we don’t feel any pressure in terms of trying to win an ICC trophy. Of course, it would be nice to do it. It would be certainly nice to be able to win an ICC tournament. But also, in the context of things, you look at this and you see this is the culmination of two years of work.”