The big storyline from Cummins’ announcement is that Scott Boland has been named as the replacement for Josh Hazlewood, edging out Michael Neser, a late injury replacement to the 15-man squad in the UK.
Australia made the selection call on early Tuesday morning, and while Cummins did not name the side from 1-11 for the Final, he expressed to reporters that there are “no surprises” in the rest of the side’s makeup.
As for Boland, his selection comes off the back of a near-unrivaled start to his Test career, taking 28 wickets in his first seven matches, at an average of just 13.42.
The 34-year-old’s only experience in the UK comes from a tour in 2018 with the Australian Indigenous side, though the captain believes he will need little adjustment or direction to flourish while playing Test cricket in the country.
“In the past here in England, because the ball does talk a little more, I’ve seen players get too caught up in trying to take wickets every ball because you’ve suddenly got the ball swinging and seaming,” said Cummins.
Someone like Scotty, it’s just a really simple game plan – you hit your good areas and you stay there all day and hopefully the ball will do the work for you.
“He’s had a few bowls over here now and has looked good. But he looks good whenever he bowls,” Cummins added.
Australia will likely stick with David Warner at the top of the order, opening with Usman Khawaja. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith take up No.3 and No.4 respectively, while Travis Head, Cameron Green, and Alex Carey should round out the top seven.
Here is the likely Australian XI:
| David Warner | Usman Khawaja | Marnus Labuschagne | Steve Smith | Travis Head | Cameron Green |
| Alex Carey (wk) | Pat Cummins (c) | Mitchell Starc | Nathan Lyon | Scott Boland |
Here are the complete squads:
Australia
| Pat Cummins (c) | Alex Carey (wk) | Cameron Green | Marcus Harris | Travis Head |
| Josh Inglis | Usman Khawaja | Marnus Labuschagne | Nathan Lyon | Todd Murphy |
| Michael Neser | Steve Smith | Mitchell Starc | Scott Boland | David Warner |
India
| Rohit Sharma (c) | KS Bharat (wk) | Ishan Kishan (wk) | Shubman Gill | Cheteshwar Pujara |
| Virat Kohli | Ajinkya Rahane | Ravi Ashwin | Ravindra Jadeja | Axar Patel |
| Shardul Thakur | Mohammad Shami | Mohammed Siraj | Umesh Yadav | Jaydav Unadkat |
