Ravi Shastri, the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, on Wednesday stressed on the need of a best-of-three final instead of a one-off match to decide the World Test Championship (WTC) winner.
Speaking ahead of their departure to England for the WTC final against New Zealand, beginning on June 18 in Southampton, he said: “Ideally, in the long run if they want to pursue with the Test championship, a best-of-three final would be ideal — a three-match final as culmination of two and a half years of cricket around the globe. Best of three would have been ideal.”
Shastri also said that the development of Indian team isn’t an overnight process as the Kohli-led team has learned how to win from difficult positions.
“The guys have earned their stripes. This is not a team that has suddenly blossomed overnight. Like Virat said, five-six years of being No. 1 and when you start being on top, playing cricket at the highest level and competing against the best, you have the ability to pull yourself out of tough situations,” added Shastri.
“As you have seen time and time again. Not just Australia. In last two years, there have been many times when this side has pulled itself off from big problems and gone on to win series. [Playing the] final is a great victory for the boys really,” he signed-off.
Meanwhile, India skipper Virat Kohli said that the WTC final holds a lot of value despite being one-off since it is first of its kind and is the culmination of last few years of hard work.
“It holds a lot of value, this being the first of its kind and in the toughest format. All of us take a lot of pride in playing Test cricket and the way we have progressed as a side. It (WTC final) is an example of what Test cricket means to us,” said Kohli.
“So all of us who have been part of the Test side for many years, this is like an accumulation of all the hard work for not just the duration of [two years of] WTC but of the last five-six years since the time we started coming up the ranks and building as a side. We are just very, very happy to have the opportunity to play the final,” he added.