India cricketer Dinesh Karthik doesn't feel New Zealand have an advantage over Team India going into the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final. He said both the teams will be neck-to-neck after the first hour of the match.
Speaking on Salaam Cricket 2021, Karthik said Team India have won more away matches than New Zealand in the WTC tournament and they should be proud of it. He expects the Virat Kohli-led side to come all guns blazing once they settle down.
"India, like any other team would have preferred to play a match or two before the final. But the schedule is such that these are not luxuries that India can afford right now. Just to get into the country during the pandemic is a big effort in itself, lot of people have found lots of avenues just to get a group of people in.
"So lets not dig deep into the fact that we can't have the extra edge that New Zealand has but what we do have is that we have won more matches away than them. That is something that the Indian team can be really proud of and derive confidence from. And knowing this current set of players, they have a never-say-die attitude.
"It's all okay with all these familiarities till you walk in and when the first hour is done, it's going to be evens-sevens. New Zealand, in the lead up to the game, will feel better because they have played a couple of games in England but I can promise you, once the Indian team gets on the park in the WTC Final, they will come all guns blazing," he said.
India captain Kohli is yet to win an ICC title after becoming captain in all formats and he has a good opportunity to lift his first ICC trophy. Karthik said a win in the WTC final will mean a lot for Kohli.
"I think it will mean a lot to him. He has won the World Cup in the U-19 format, so he has tasted success in a multi-nation tournament. He was part of a World Cup winning team in 2011. So he knows what it means to be part of winning teams. He is always challenging himself and trying to push Indian cricket to greater heights," Karthik told Sports Today on eSalaamCricket.
Indian cricket team had to perform decently on Australia tour and beat England at home comfortably to seal a place in WTC final after ICC changed the points system. Karthik said the team should be happy with how they have performed in Tests lately.
"The WTC is played over two years, so probably that intensity of playing a World Cup is not there. The dynamics are a lot different, but India can proudly say that they have been pushed to the brink in terms of how suddenly the rules changed and they had to come up with a different approach to what they need to do in terms of reaching the final."
(With India Today Inputs)
