World Test Championship 2019-2021
The journey of the first ever WTC began in 2019 and culminated after about 2 years in England. Let’s look at what went down as things progressed. India and New Zealand secured their place for contending for the World Test Championship Final. Who will come up as the World Test Championship winner? Read more to get the update.
Toss
The Kiwis won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Match Venue
Rose Bowl Stadium, Southampton, England
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah.
New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, and Trent Boult.
Match Summary
India’s 1st Innings
While Ajinkya Rahane was the top scorer from the Indian batting arsenal, he did miss his half-century by a run. Early fall of wickets for the Indians meant that their top guns like Rohit Sharma couldn’t leave a mark as they should have.
Though skipper Virat Kohli and Rahane stabilized things for the squad. But besides them, the rest of the middle and lower batsmen couldn’t do much and India had to stay content with a score of a mere 217 runs.
Kylie Jamieson was the bowler that was responsible for the Indian debacle. He took 5 wickets.
New Zealand’s 1st Innings
The Kiwi side too faced a similar crisis when it came to building partnership but they ended up at a better score of 249 notches. Devon Conway (54) and skipper Kane Williamson (49) became the dependable duo for NZ.
The Kiwis could have gone for even a better score had it not been for Shami who sent 4 of their players to the pavilion.
India’s 2nd Innings
If India’s 1st batting innings ended badly then 2nd one can be termed as having gone miserably. The squad could score just 170 runs.
Youngster Rishabh Pant (41) and Rohit Sharma (30) were the two who could cross the 20-run mark. This time, it was Tim Southee (4 wickets) and Trent Boult (3 wickets) who ensured India couldn’t make full use of its potential scorers.
New Zealand’s 2nd Innings
New Zealand easily chased the set target of 139 as skipper Kane Williamson (52) and Ross Taylor (47) took them to the finish line. They achieved this feat of winning the WTC tournament while just 43 deliveries were left.
R Ashwin managed to dismiss both the Kiwi openers but it was quite clear that the New Zealand wasn’t going to let the championship go away.
World Test Championship Winner
New Zealand won the first ever World Test Championship. The match winning partnership of Taylor and Williamson helped Kiwis achieved the feat. Their pacers were also brilliant in both the innings. New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets.
Why India Lost?
The poor performance of Indian team with the bat made it difficult for the bowlers to defend their team from an obvious defeat. They also dropped a couple of chances in the second innings. The game was heavily affected by rain and it went on to the reserve day.
Hopefully, India will again make into the final in the next edition and win the same to forget their defeat in Southampton.
Winning Runs
Ross Taylor hit the flick to the deep square leg and bowl reach to the boundary rope and Taylor claimed four runs.
Match Result
New Zealand won the match by 8 wickets.
Man of the Match
Kyle Jamieson
Winning Captain
Kane Williamson
Losing Captain
Virat Kohli
Records
- Great tribute for BJ Watling as he was playing his final test match.
- Nine consecutive tests without a defeat for kiwis in 2020-2021.
