On 18 June 2021, the world will witness the first-ever Test World Cup final in the history of cricket which is to be played in Southampton, England. And it is fair to say that World Test Championship is the ultimate dream of both sides. Where Kane Williamson will enter in the ground to heal the wounds of 2015 and 2019 defeats in 50 overs world-cup while Virat Kohli has a chance to clinch his first ICC Tournament.
So in this blog, we will talk about both sides’ strengths and challenges.
First We will start with Team India, I assume that Virat Kohli is as much desperate to win the ICC tournament under his captaincy as many Indian fans are. The main responsibility lies on Opening batsmen. In my opinion, Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill will be lining up for the final and they got a huge responsibility to give a good start in beginning because in overseas tour especially in England your opening batsmen are instrumental if they give a start of 50-70 odd runs and then batsmen like Virat, Pujara, Pant, Rahane can capitalize that start and India can eye the total around 350-400 runs which will be a very good score for this bowling line-up. And India Bowling needs to find a solution how to get wickets of New Zealand tailenders because over the past 5 years India always pulls early wickets but suffer against lower order and this time India can’t afford this to happen because every 10-30 runs partnership matters. And if we talk about certain players India always suffers against those bowlers who tall and left-handed bowlers, Kyle Jamieson and Trent Boult can give them a tough time, so how Indian batsmen will approach them will be a delight to watch.
And also if we analyze the India squad they got depth in every department but I feel Indian selectors miss the trick to select any wrist spinner and India will miss proper fast bowling all-rounder likes of Hardik Pandya in their squad who can give 10-15 overs a day and can make some good runs for his team and wrist spinner can come handy in Rose bowl stadium where the pitch is pacy and bouncy so wrist-spinner will give you different type of variety and New Zealand batsmen is not considered proficient against wrist-spinners.
Coming to New Zealand, their captain Kane Williamson undoubtedly will be their biggest strength if he found himself in good rhythm then India bowlers will found themselves in a critical situation because he is not the kind of player who will be happy in making only 70-100 runs once he finds his hands he go for daddy hundreds which can kill the game. And also they will be playing in England and they will find themselves more comfortable in England because of conditions which are very similar to New Zealand and before WTC they will be playing a Test series with England in England so they have more time to prepare themselves for that big match they can try different options and the biggest thing is that they will get match practice in England against the quality bowling line-up.
But if we compare their batting line-up with India they look weak because Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme is coming from injury, and also their opening order didn’t look solid on paper so this is the department which team India might look to hit hard and take advantage of that and It will be interesting to see how their batsmen will handle those pressure moments. And also they have to tackle one Roorkee boy who can become a headache, yes you guess it right he is Rishabh pant we all know his capability to change the match, I feel Rishabh Pant will be the one from whom they will be most scared of because of his playing style and killer instincts.
But in the end, bowlers will be crucial for both teams how they bowl and how they set the tempo of the match. And whosoever team wins the toss they should Bat first because no team will be willing to face the pressure of chasing runs in 4th innings.
So from 18th June, I hope every sports lover will sit in front of their Television will enjoy this match between two world-class teams.
Sportsoff 