Kohli drops a bomb, says World Test Championship is a distraction

Virat Kohli called the World Test Championship a distraction. The International Cricket Council should be concerned.

Conceptualised in 2010 and finally in place in 2019, the WTC was thought to be a hit among cricket-playing nations, especially now since India are on the cusp of making it to the final against New Zealand in June at Lord’s.

Ishant Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane are on that bandwagon, saying winning the WTC title will be akin to claiming a World Cup. An understandable sentiment given that they only play the one format.

But Kohli, who captains the side in all three formats, shot down WTC’s significance, saying it doesn’t matter as long as the team remains on top of the ICC team rankings.

“It might work for teams who don’t have the motivation to play Test cricket,” said Kohli at a virtual press conference on the eve of the fourth Test against England in Ahmedabad.

“…but for teams like us, who are motivated in any case, this comes as a distraction. We only want to win Test matches and remain on top of the world in Test cricket, we have no issues if we play the World Test Championship or not. Some people could use this as an extra incentive to perform but that’s unacceptable for me. I think every match should be played with the same intensity and intention.”

Read | Too much noise about spin-friendly tracks, says Virat Kohli

The Board of Control for Cricket in India - used to taking Kohli’s suggestions earnestly before passing the same onto the ICC - will also consider using the rotation policy after the most successful Indian captain ever spoke of it as the need of the hour.

“No human being can possibly go on for that many number of games throughout of the year, everyone needs to find windows of having some time off, having a break, especially with bubble format,” he said.

“The kind of systems you have to follow in the bubble, it can get very monotonous, and it is tough to keep yourself excited about small things, I think these are the things that need to be considered for as long as you play in the bubble, outside of that it depends on where you stand physically more than mentally, but I think till the bubble exists, we need to keep the mental factor in the picture as well because mental fatigue would be a huge factor.”

He also mentioned that India are working on their bench strength to potentially exercise the rotation policy and subsequently aid in the transition once this batch moves on.

Expectedly, a chunk of the interaction was spent on Kohli defending the pitches, saying the criticism of two-day Tests would not have seen the light of day had the same happened aboard.

“There is always too much noise and too much conversation about spinning tracks,” he responded, maintaining the same narrative as Ajinkya Rahane and R Ashwin.

“When we were bowled out in 36 overs in New Zealand, I am sure no one wrote about the pitch. It was all about how India played badly. And none of the pitches was criticised. The reason for our success is that we haven’t cribbed about any pitches that we have played on."

“Also, people should be happy that India wins and not be caught with how long the match lasts,” he added.