New Zealand’s red ball specialist Neil Wagner, during a virtual media interaction, said that winning the World Test Championship was the “pinnacle of the game” for him.

Wagner revealed to ESPNCricinfo that he never dreamed of being a part of a World Cup winning team, as he wasn’t a part of the New Zealand Limited overs team.

“No, that (playing white-ball cricket for New Zealand) was sort of a dream and a ship that had sailed to be fair – thinking about the white-ball World Cup in some sort of a way.”

The left arm quick explained how excited he was with the idea of a World Test Championship, and thought its something that is the way forward for test cricket.

“So, when the Test Championship came around and it was sort of explained to us a couple of years ago what it’s going to be like, I got quite excited by the idea. I thought it was quite special and I thought it was something that’s going to make Test cricket the way it is right now and make it quite exciting and add a bit more perspective to it.”

He also stated that it’s difficult to keep performing in every test for a period of two years and that is what makes the World Test Championship even more interesting.

Neil Wagner bagged three wickets over the course of the match. While describing the World Test Championship final, he said,

“To then get into a final, which was obviously rain-affected and still play our brand of cricket and be positive and to get there, personally for me, I can’t speak for everyone, this is the ultimate for me to win a Test Championship final though it’s the first one and probably hard to compare with others, it’s definitely the pinnacle of the game for me. And to win it against a quality team like India and the way we did and then to see what it has meant to everyone…”

 

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Neil Wagner was all praise for his New Zealand teammate and the Player-of-the-Match Kyle Jamieson, “Every game he’s getting better and better” said Wagner.

While speaking about his retirement, Wagner said that he believes he has plenty left in the tank to offer and age is just a number.

“Age is just a number for me personally and I feel potentially I haven’t got the five-wicket bags or performances behind my name that I wanted to, but still feel I’m contributing and playing a role, doing what I’m doing and that is just my role.”

He also added that the World Test Championship title has urged him to work harder on his game and his fitness, so as to keep performing and contributing his best for New Zealand Cricket.