New Zealand are all set to take on Team India in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton from June 18-22.
On the eve of the marquee game, Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson addressed a press conference and said that playing the WTC final is a testament to his team's growth over the past two years.
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“There's been a lot of growth over a period of time so many challenges along the way every day but the team has bought into it and tried to move past those with a good attitude,” Williamson told reporters on the eve of the final.
“There is lot of hard work done over a long period of time to find ourselves here in the first final (of WTC).
“It's exciting but for us it's just focusing on continuing that growth and trying to keep committing to the parts of our game that give us the best chance and that's where I know the guys will be focusing on. We are trying to look at the long game and try and improve all the time.”
Williamson is not reading too much into the favourites tag given to his side.
“Firstly, we are really looking forward to the match, it's been quite a long time coming...In terms of (being) favourites, these tags that come about. We are much more concerned with the cricket that we want to play and also very realistic we know that India are an incredibly strong side all around the world...
“...they are rightly so recognized as the best team, you have these rankings and they take slightly different shape every-day. But, we know that the challenge is very very strong against this Indian side.”
New Zealand are going into the match with a 1-0 Test series win over England. They made six changes to their playing XI for the second Test at Edgbaston and still won it by 8 wickets.
They have some tough choices to make pace department and that’s why the playing XI has not been decided yet.
“Yeah there a number of guys that are playing well. Look, seam bowlers have been contributing really well. There is some depth there in that department, which is very important to our team, so there'll be some tricky but good conversations to have in finalizing the eleven,” Williamson said.
Asked if the first edition of WTC has been a success, the New Zealand captain said: “I think we certainly did see it getting closer towards the crunch end with teams having to work out what they would need to achieve for a place in the final.
“We did see a lot of exciting Tests where teams were doing everything they could to get across the line, some sporting declarations. I remember watching few Tests over the course of the two years. They were very exciting to watch and WTC does provide that extra context to the format and is a step in the right direction.”
Commenting on his elbow injury that forced him to sit out in the second Test against England, Williamson said: "My elbow has improved with the help of an injection few days ago. I am still managing but all in all it is showing signs of improvement which is good."
(With PTI inputs)
