Team India head coach Ravi Shastri on Saturday labelled the World Test Championship (WTC) as the ‘big daddy’ of all World Cups. He also said that the longest format is a real challenge for a player.
Shastri’s comments came ahead of the start of the WTC final against New Zealand.
“It’s the ‘big daddy of all World Cups’. I’ve played the 1983 World Cup, commentated on a few of them but this one is the biggest of them all. It’s the toughest format, biggest format and the job satisfaction is maximum. There are a lot of big players who’ve not got their hands on a World Cup, so playing in a big final is always special. To keep the team at number one for five years is a massive achievement,” Shastri told host broadcaster Star Sports. Talking about the team’s plans for the ongoing final, Shastri said: “On an occasion like this we wanted to get out as quickly as possible. Not really. Unless you would have had another washout today and the game had been reduced to a 2-3 day game, but otherwise with the kind of attack we have, we take the pitch out of the equation. On a day like this it helps the fast bowlers get help, but when the sun comes out the spinners would come into play. Jadeja and Ashwin add that variety and they bowl well in tandem. They have close to 600-700 wickets and complement each other really well.”
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to field first in the much-awaited World Test Championship (WTC) final against India on Saturday. Incessant rain saw the opening day’s play being washed off at the Ageas Bowl on Friday. Squads: India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling(w), Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult. (ANI)
