Watch highlights: India and their journey to the WTC final
India WTC: As Virat Kohli and company gear up for the highly anticipated final of the World Test Championship (WTC), we cast our minds back to their journey in the league’s inaugural cycle.
The Indian team reached the final after finishing on the top of the nine-team WTC points table, having clinched victories in 12 of their 17 matches and losing just four of those.
A rejigged, pandemic-hit points system couldn’t hold India back as Kohli’s team earned enough wins under their bag to make the ultimate finale.
Also Read: World Test Championship 2019-2021: A XI Of The Best From The WTC Cycle
India WTC campaign included 12 wins and only 4 defeats in 17 matches.
India WTC: It all started in the Caribbean back in August 2019, when the Indian team faced West Indies in a two-match series. Kohli’s team went on to dominate the hosts across Antigua and Jamaica, pulling off wins by hefty margins in both Tests.
While vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari produced the goods with the bat, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah proved to be the exceptional performers with the ball.
The team then entered a home season against South Africa and Bangladesh, both of whom they crushed in the five Test matches that were played. Usually, it is spin that brings opposition down on their knees for India at home, this time it was pace as the likes of Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami dismantled the visiting batsmen.
India won all five of the Tests, including their maiden D/N encounter in Kolkata, quite comprehensively and sat comfortably in the WTC standings at this point with seven wins under their belt.
WTC – Journey
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India WTC – Watch highlights: India and their journey to the WTC final
India WTC: Just when they were on a high, however, Kohli’s team suffered their first defeat for the campaign when they were whitewashed 2-0 in New Zealand in early 2020. In a two-match series that barely lasted over five days of play collectively, India were hammered in Wellington and outclassed under prevailing conditions in Christchurch.
Only two Indian batsmen – Mayank Agarwal (102) and Cheteshwar Pujara (100) – aggregated 100 runs or more from their four innings in the series as India succumbed to some outstanding bowling against New Zealand’s best-ever pace attack.
Unfortunately for India, their in-form pacer Ishant reaggravated an injury after taking a five-fer in the first Test and Bumrah, Shami and Umesh couldn’t ever match the threat that Boult, Southee, Wagner and Jamieson imposed.
Then the pandemic struck, and India had to not only wait long to get back on the Test field but also manage around a tweaked points system, giving weightage to the percentage points from every series.
India WTC: But in a remarkable performance, despite missing multiple first-choice picks including skipper Kohli after the first Test, India pulled off a historic heist in Australia. Against an opposition at full-strength, a beleaguered Indian side clinched the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1.
Pujara provided the cushion for the rest of the batting unit to flourish as timely contributions from stand-in captain Rahane, Shubman Gill, comeback man Rishabh Pant and impactful spells from Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur helped India come out victorious.
In their last series for the league stage – at home against England – India had to not only win but also win by a margin of 2-1 or more to be sure of a place in the WTC final. After a rare blip in the first Test, Team India got back on track and routed England in the following three matches.
Rohit, Rahane and Pant played vital knocks along the way but it was Ashwin and Axar Patel, who was making his debut, that emerged as the stand-out performers. While Ashwin reinforced his status as the world’s premier off-spinner, Axar proved to be an able replacement for an injured Ravindra Jadeja. The duo took a bagful of wickets from the series in favourable conditions.