Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev says that he would have preferred the best of three finals to determine the winner of the ICC World Test Championship.
Team India and New Zealand are all set to lock horns with each other in the final of WTC between 18-22th June at Rose Bowl in Southampton.
Many fans and pundits feel that there should’ve been at least more than one Test match needed to determine the winner of the ICC World Test Championship.
Talking about the same, 1983 World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev said that he would’ve preferred more than one match to determine the winner of the ‘important title’.
“I would have preferred more than just one match to decide such an important title. Of course, these days it is not a big thing to prepare for a match. It helps to play a few matches in those conditions but that can’t be an excuse,” Kapil Dev told Midday.
Dev said by introducing WTC, ICC is trying to popularise Test matches. He remarked that three-Test finals would’ve been great.
“It is something the ICC has done to popularise Test matches. There will be good cricket for the public, I am sure. I feel three-Test finals would have been great,” he said.
The 1983 World Cup-winning India captain Dev pointed out that Lord’s would’ve been a better venue than Southampton because there is something about celebrating a win at that historic venue.
"Maybe, Lord’s would have a better venue than Rose Bowl because the ground has a great history. Even Manchester [Old Trafford] would have been a good choice but there is something about celebrating a win at Lord’s,” he said.
Kapil Dev further said that how Team India will handle the conditions will be important as their batting will hold the key. He added that even though bowlers provide solid backup but the quality of batsmen will stand out in the final.
“I won’t say batsmen are better than the bowlers. You have to have a balance. India looks like a superior batting side. How they tackle the conditions is important. To me, India’s batting will hold the key.
“The bowlers provide a solid back-up to India’s cricket campaigns these days but the quality of batsmen will stand out in the final,” he concluded.
After the final of WTC, Virat Kohli led-side will lock horns against England in the five-Test series, starting 2nd June.
(Midday inputs)
