India’s head coach Ravi Shastri said he would have preferred a best of three final to determine the winner of the World Test Championship. India and New Zealand are set to square off in the first-ever WTC final starting from June 18 in Southampton, England.
“In the long run, a best of three final will be ideal as a culmination of two and a half years of cricket around the globe. But we have to finish it as quickly as possible because of the FTP that will start all over again. So one-off is a one-off. The guys have earned their rights. This wasn’t built overnight. When you start being on top you have the ability to pull yourself on top,” said Shastri.
“It’s the first WTC final and looking at the magnitude of the game, it’s going to be the biggest,” Shastri added.
Skipper Virat Kohli concurred and added, “This holds a lot of value. All of us take a lot of pride in playing Test cricket. So very happy to play in the finals.”
#TeamIndia Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc on whether the ICC World Test Championship Final is like playing the World Cup Final. pic.twitter.com/hAp0yCUqeO
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 2, 2021
Shastri also spoke about two Indian teams playing different formats and how it could be the way forward.
“At the moment it is happening because of the current situation with restrictions in travel. But you never know, in the future if you want to expand the game, especially in the shorter formats of the game then it could be the way forward. Why not?” he said.
“If you have that much volume of cricketers and if you want to spread the T20 game then that could be the way ahead. If you are thinking about Olympics in 4 or 8 years’ time then you need more countries to play the game,” he added.
Taking it forward, Kohli said “With the current structure and the kind of structure that you’re competing inside for a long period of time, it’s very difficult for the players to stay motivated and find the right kind of mental space.”
“You know just confined in one area and just doing the stuff, day in day out when you’re dealing with high pressure situations. So, this (two squads) will definitely become a norm for the future,” he added.
“Apart from the workloads, the mental health side of things will also come into the picture big time because you don’t have an outlet at all,” said Kohli.
“In today’s day and age you literally go into the ground, come back to the room, and you have no space where you can just disconnect from the game and just go out for a walk or go out for a meal or a coffee and say, Okay, Let me refresh myself.
“Let me just get away from the game a little bit so I think this is a huge factor which should not be neglected. Because as much hard work as we’ve done to create this team, you don’t want players falling out because of the mental pressures and not having the capacity or the space to express themselves.”
