AB De Villiers Picks India As Winners For WTC Final vs Australia At The Oval

South Africa veteran AB de Villiers has backed India to win the WTC final against Australia at the Oval.

New Delhi: The World Test Championship final between India and Australia is set to get underway on June 7 at Kennington Oval. The two teams met in a five-match Test series earlier this year where team India beat Australia 2-1. In fact, India have not lost a series against Australia since 2014-15. They defeated Australia 2-1 in 2016-17 at home before winning back-to-back series in Australia. However, when the two teams will step on the park for the WTC final, Australia will fancy winning the game as much as India.

Several experts have predicted the winner of the WTC final and the latest to join the bandwagon is South Africa veteran AB De Villiers. De Villiers has backed team India to win the marquee game at the Oval. The right-hand batter said that India will win the Test on Day 5 of the game, saying that they defeated a strong England team at the same venue. AB backed his decision saying that the wicket will offer help to the Indian spinners who will make the difference for India.

“Very difficult to say who are the favourites. Both teams have not been playing a lot of Test cricket of late but what I can say is that India in their last Test match at the Oval has got a win against this very strong England team. They will be taking a bit of confidence from that. I think India will come out on top on day five of the Test match. I think it might go all the way. It’s a good wicket to bat on but I think the Indian spinners will come into play in the latter stages of the Test match,” De Villiers said while speaking to JioCinema.

India’s campaign has been marred by injuries as KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Jasprit Bumrah, who were part of India’s famous win at the Oval, are not part of the current squad due to injuries. Australia too have their share of concerns as ace pacer Josh Hazlewood will miss the game owing to injury.

Nasser Hussain Backs India To Win WTC 2023

Meanwhile, former England captain Nasser Hussain also backed India to emerge victorious in the WTC final.

“I think India, as they showed in Australia, can win in any conditions. “It helps with the balance of their side if the weather is good and if the sun shines at The Oval, that they can go with their formula of two spinners, two seamers, and have (Shardul) Thakur as your third seamer.

“If you look back at the last World Test Championship, I think India read the conditions wrong. The lights were on all five days, it was grey, it was miserable, it was cold. New Zealand didn’t play a front-line spinner. India played two, and I think seam dominated, swing dominated. India have played some good cricket at The Oval. They beat England there last time in a really good game. I think it’s a pretty fair venue,” Hussain said while speaking to ICC.