India head coach Ravi Shastri said that his side had to dig deep in order to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final as the rules were changed midway due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
India will face New Zealand in the final of the WTC from June 18-22 at Lord’s in London, after beating England 3-1 in the four-Test series at home. They had earlier beaten Australia in Australia by 2-1.
"I am not worried about the next WTC cycle, I am thinking of the first cycle. If you ask me about the problems in the first cycle, please do not shift the goalpost. I am sitting at home during Covid-19, right in the month of October-November. You have got more points than any other team in the world.
360 at that time, suddenly, a week later without playing any cricket, there is a rule that comes stating that the points would be decided on the percentage system and go from number one to three” Shastri said.
"I want to understand the logic behind this, what is the way forward for me? I have to go to Australia, sitting comfortably at the top spot, leading by 60-70 points. They say you have to go to Australia, you have to beat Australia. How many teams in the last ten years can say with guarantee that we will beat Australia?
The reason I am saying this, you are sitting at the top of the table, percentage system, you have to go to Australia and beat Australia. If you do not beat Australia, you come back home and beat England 4-0, you get close to 500 points and you still do not qualify.
We have had to dig deep, we have had to go down every hole that is needed to find water. Do not ask me about the next cycle, first, let's finish this cycle," he added.
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Shastri said that teams had to carry huge squads of 20-30 players was a big positive in this COVID era.
“You found out who is good and who is not. It is a good headache to have and it is something that has worked well. If you said Natarajan would play a Test match, you would have said no way. Even Washington Sundar, you would have said no way. These are things you would not imagine but circumstances make it happen. I am glad the youngsters who got the opportunity cracked it open,” he said.
India finished as the number one team with 72.2 percentage points in the WTC points table, while New Zealand was the first team to qualify, that too without playing a single Test outside their own country.
(ANI inputs)
