When International Cricket Council announced the World Test Championship Final schedule a couple of years ago, nobody would have thought about this final. Not these two teams let alone at this venue. Also not during once in a generation kind of pandemic. Now that we are here, one can only hope for a good contest.
While India and New Zealand battle out from today, they will have a common rival in the name of weather. The latter could easily take away the most-awaited match and nobody can do anything about it. The now famously called Ages Bowl venue might fail its purpose. All one can do now is not to focus on what might happen and to shift the focus to what could happen. There is a lot in between too.
First of all, India have been the team to beat right from day one. They had memorable performances and the most recent one is beating England and of course, beating Australia in Australia. Both these tours had so much emotional inclination. The team went through heaven and hell to get to where they are today.
On the other hand, nobody matches the word underdogs more than New Zealand. Their route might not be convincing to everyone but it is not like they cannot beat the top teams. Now, how about a 2-0 series victory over India last year?
We can find multiple reasons but everyone chooses their own narrative and they see what they want to see. New Zealand might not be the overachievers like India, England or Australia but one cannot keep them away. They are like Andy Murray during his prime.
They might not fit into the top three but that didn’t stop them to win matches. Murray did get to his Wimbledon by beating Novak Djokovic, Olympics gold by beating Roger Federer and of course, he did pull off wins over Rafa Nadal in US Open and also Wimbledon.
The point here is, New Zealand could be the underdogs but they cannot be ignored for the path they had to come this far. If a team can make six changes and still go on to win a Test match convincingly, that must prove enough that they aren’t here just to view the party but to be a big part of one and also to spoil it for their opponent.
India have already announced their playing eleven and they are going in with two spinner-all rounder. Of course, both Ashwin and Jadeja are too good to be ignored, at least, in recent times. India will put their money on their three pacers who might have to come up with a plan to take down New Zealand.
New Zealand, as everyone knows, doesn’t have a lot of superstars like other teams but there is a lot in the making and Devon Conway has climbed that charts to some extent already. He is lucky to roll the dice right to get the ladders alone. However, he should be careful because a single snake could bring him down to where has started. Of course, most of the stars today were taken down by snakes but had found a way to climb back.
Apart from Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson, the team’s batting does look strong in the form of Tom Latham, BJ Watling among others. The latter would love to end his career on a high and scoring plenty of runs is one way to do so.
Their bowling needs no introduction at all. While Trent Boult and Tim Southee would keep finding those edges, Neil Wagner doesn’t believe in one and all he is going to do is to find the weak spot in the body. Cheteshwar Pujara might be India’s punching bag but can he withstand another brutal Test?
Can Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma pick their battles right?
Can Shubman Gill finally find a way to convert those starts?
Can Ajinkya Rahane be India’s reliable Robin?
Can Rishabh Pant just be Rishabh Pant?
That’s a lot of questions to ask and New Zealand bowlers will play a huge part in creating answers to those questions.
As the World Test Championship Final hangs in balance, all one can hope at this moment is that the weather shouldn’t play the spoilsport. Fingers crossed.
