On the second day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, fans witnessed a phenomenal battle between the top two Test sides in the world. Both teams looked really strong and showed why they deserved to be in the Final of the first-ever World Test Championship tournament.
Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bowl first looking at the overcast conditions and pace-friendly pitch. When India came to bat, the comparatively new opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill even after batting together for the first time in England performed well.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill built a partnership of 62 runs but after that India lost 3 consecutive wickets and was reduced to 88/3. Then Captain Virat Kohli and Vice Captain Ajinkya Rahane came to bat and battled against the Kiwi Pace battery, having an unbeaten 58 runs partnership and helping India reach 146/3 before the play stopped due to bad lighting conditions.
Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan was also impressed by the Indian batter who believes the conditions were extremely tough to bat in Ageas Bowl, Southampton, and that too against fierce Kiwi pace attack. He stated that a score of around 225 runs will be par in the first innings. Vaughan also appreciated India for not losing a lot of wickets.
“225 looks around par to me in Southampton … India have done very very well so far in these conditions not to have lost a lot more … #worldtestchampionshipfinal,” part of Vaughan’s tweet read.
225 looks around par to me in Southampton … India have done very very well so far in these conditions not to have lost a lot more … #worldtestchampionshipfinal … Anyway it’s time for a G & T up north … #OnOn #INDvsNZ
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 19, 2021
New Zealand play an all pace attack in WTC final
In the World Test Championship final at Southampton, New Zealand went with full force Pacers in the team. They have 4 main Pacers consisting of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, and Kyle Jamieson, and a fast bowling all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme.
Blackcaps preferred Colin over spinner Ajaz Patel who did a great job in the recent series against England. Veteran Leg spinner; Shane Warne criticizes New Zealand for this decision of having no spinner as he believes in the latter part of the game spinner will surely come into play