'They'll win comfortably if they play anywhere near their best': Tim Paine picks winner of WTC final
Paine’s assertation is slightly against the popular belief – That New Zealand will start as favourites due to the familiarity with conditions and their recent 1-0 victory against hosts England – of many cricket experts and former players.
Australia Test captain Tim Paine predicted the winner of the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final. Paine said Virat Kohli’s India will win ‘comfortably’ if they play ‘anywhere near their best’ against New Zealand in the WTC final, which will begin at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on June 18.
Paine’s assertation is slightly against the popular belief – That New Zealand will start as favourites due to the familiarity with conditions and their recent 1-0 victory against hosts England – of many cricket experts and former players.
India and New Zealand qualified for the WTC final after they finished at No.1 and No.2 in the points table while Australia finished a close third.
"My prediction is, India will win pretty comfortably if they play anywhere near their best," Paine said at a press conference in Brisbane.
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Paine had captained Australia against both New Zealand and India.
While Australia beat the Kiwis 3-0 at home in 2019, they suffered a 1-2 defeat against India when Virat Kohli's side travelled Down Under in early 2020.
New Zealand are coming into the match well-prepared, following their 1-0 series-win over hosts England but for Paine, it won't count for much as he believes the win came against a depleted home side.
England did not have all-rounders Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali in their line-up apart from missing Jos Buttler, pacer Jofra Archer and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.
It's a fact which makes him believe that the Ashes series later in the summer would be an altogether different ball game.
"I think New Zealand are a good team, for one, and secondly if we're being realistic I think it's a really different team that we saw England out on the field to what we’re probably going to see in the Ashes… keeping it in perspective it certainly wasn’t England’s strongest team," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
