Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
'Big daddy of all World Cups': Ravi Shastri on WTC Final
WTC Final: The Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made a strong start, but New Zealand came right back into the contest by picking up both the openers as India headed into lunch at 69/2.
The World Test Championship (WTC) Final eventually got underway on the second day after incessant rains had washed out the first day completely. New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl first against Indian.
The Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made a strong start, but New Zealand came right back into the contest by picking up both the openers as India headed into lunch at 69/2.
India vs New Zealand, WTC Final Day 2, Live Updates
Before the start of play at Southampton, India's head coach Ravi Shastri spoke to host broadcaster Star Sports and gave his opinion on how big the occasion of the first ever WTC Final was. Shastri, who was part of India's 1983 World Cup-winning team called the WTC Final, the 'big daddy' of ICC tournaments.
"It's the 'big daddy of all World Cups'. I've played the 1983 World Cup, commentated on a few of them but this one is the biggest of them all. It's the toughest format, biggest format and the job satisfaction is maximum. There are a lot of big players who've not got their hands on a World Cup, so playing in a big final is always special. To keep the team at number one for five years is a massive achievement," Shastri told host broadcaster Star Sports.
When asked about whether he and captain Kohli thought about changing their playing XI due to the rain in Southampton, Shastri said that they would have considered it if it had rained for longer.
"Not really. Unless you would have had another washout today and the game had been reduced to a 2-3 day game, but otherwise with the kind of attack we have, we take the pitch out of the equation. On a day like this it helps the fast bowlers get help, but when the sun comes out the spinners would come into play. Jadeja and Ashwin add that variety and they bowl well in tandem. They have close to 600-700 wickets and complement each other really well," he said.
