Utkarsha Amar Pawar bats right handed and bowls medium pace. From 2015–16 through 2017–18, she represented West Zone Under–19, Maharashtra Under–19, and West Zone Under–23. Later, Utkarsha took part in senior teams for Maharashtra and the West Zone. She also played for India C in the 2019 Under-23 T20 Challenger Trophy. Although her name was on the list for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction with a starting bid of Rs. 10 lakhs, she wasn’t bought. – Utkarsha – who ?
Now comes WTC Final - WTC final is essentially, the World Cup final for Test cricket. Since 2002, the ICC has awarded a trophy annually to the team that has topped the rankings, but since 2019, they began the World Test Championship (WTC), which sees nine teams compete in two-year cycles in a league. The top-two teams eventually face off in the final… .. and it is just a day away !
The final of the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship, the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship, will be played from 7 to 11 June 2023 at the The Oval, London, England, between Australia and India. Yes, you are reading it right – match between India and Australia played at Oval, England.
Australia and India qualified for the final as the top two teams in the league stage of the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship. While both teams had the highest number of points at the due to the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple series being postponed, the league standings were determined by win percentage. Walking into the final India held the top position in the ICC Men's Test Team Rankings while Australia secured the second spot. Australia is making their debut in the world test final, while India, who were defeated by New Zealand in 2021, will be without several key players due to injuries. India has won only 2 at Oval thus far.
Significantly, ICC has removed the "soft signal rule" and the rule would not be in effect starting from the World Test Championship final.
Indian squad reads : Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav. Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav
The winners of the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023 will take home a purse of USD $1.6 million. Runners-up will receive USD $800,000 in prize money. The nine teams that have participated in the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 will share a total purse of USD $3.8 million. The prize money is the same as was in the inaugural edition of 2019-21.
Chris Gaffaney of New Zealand and Richard Illingworth of England are the on-field umpires for the World Test Championship Final. Richard Kettleborough of England will be the TV umpire, while Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka will be the fourth umpire. Richie Richardson of the West Indies is the match referee.
For CSK star Ruturaj Gaikwad, it is so near and yet so far - Gaikwad was part of the Reserve members but could not accompany the team that gave Yashaswi Jaiswal, opportunity to fly to London, as decided by India coach Rahul Dravid.
Ruturaj Gaikwad married Utkarsha Pawar in a grand wedding on June 3. Ruturaj and Utkarsha have been dating each other for some time. Best wishes to India’s Cricket couple and best wishes to Team India, for winning the World Test Championship 2023
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
6.6.2023
