Among two of the finest batsmen of their era, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson have been very successful captains too, but neither have a world title to show for it. This WTC final presents them with the perfect opportunity
Both Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson tried to play down the hype around the World Test Championship final, but the importance of this game is not lost on the two captains.
Among two of the finest batsmen of their era, they have been very successful captains too, but neither have a world title to show for it. This final presents them with the perfect opportunity to add the big Cup to their cabinet and stamp their legacy as leaders who became world champions.
For Williamson, the extra motivation will be to help his players make up for the heartbreak of the 2019 World Cup final when they lost more to bad luck than anything on the field. For Kohli, it is similar–being favourites at the 2019 event and going out after an hour of bad cricket in the semifinals against New Zealand. He had experienced the same frustration in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final when they were routed by Pakistan.
The inability to land an ICC Trophy remains the only blip in captain Kohli’s tenure, which has otherwise seen him inspire his side to play an exhilarating brand of cricket in all conditions.
When asked if it was the “biggest game” of his career, Kohli said, “No, for me this is another Test match that has to be played.
“If you are talking about Test cricket and deciding who is the best Test team in the world on one game over a period of five days, that’s not the reality,” he said. “It’s not gonna reflect anything for people who understand the game and who know what has gone on in the last four or five years. It is an occasion which has to be enjoyed from our point of view, but it is no different for us from the first Test match we played as a young group of players when we were trying to come up the ranks.”
On the field, the two teams will bring two different attitudes–a reflection of the personalities of their leaders. Kohli, who thrives on in-your-face aggression and the seemingly imperturbable Williamson.
“We do play a certain brand of cricket,” Kohli said. “For us it is a team that we are playing against, an opposition that we will be squaring up against which has a lot of quality players. The other stuff which is off the field, doesn’t filter on the field.”
Williamson agreed on the point. “Yeah, I mean, both the teams have their own style and brand of cricket I suppose they’ll look to commit to and both teams will be pretty keen on winning it. I’ve got no doubt about that,” said the NZ captain.
New Zealand have not named their playing XI, but India will go into the match with perhaps the most potent five-man bowling attack they have ever fielded in an away Test–Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja–despite not picking even one of the bowlers from the attack that won India a historic Test at the Gabba earlier this year.
“We know how strong the Indian seam bowling attack is,” Williamson said. “The quality of their spin and clearly their batting is world class. For us there are some similar strengths and we will turn up on the day.” (Cue : hindustantimes )