‘Making it to WTC final was important’

Come June 18, India will have the chance to avenge their humiliating series loss against New Zealand just before the world went into a lockdown.

India qualified for the final of the World Test Championship with an innings and 25-run win over England at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

“The fact that we qualified for the WTC final is very important,” said Ravichandran Ashwin, during the post-match presentation. “Beating Australia in Australia has to be the pinnacle, but with the context - being in the WTC final is not a joke - this means a lot to us. WTC final is as good as World Cup final.”

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India, who only had to draw this contest to push Australia out of the race, finished on top of the league phase with a total of 520 points (72.2 percentage of points) - including 12 wins, four losses and a draw from 17 games in a league that started in August 2019.

New Zealand had already qualified for the final with 420 points (70.0) from 11 Tests with seven wins and four losses.

“It’s the result of the kind of work we have put in for over ten years,” said Ashwin during the press conference. “We have lost only three losses (four) in the entire cycle, and finished with most points. Suddenly, the situation changed and we had to find a way to garner points to qualify and we have done that.”

“I am very happy for Ishant (Sharma) because he was selected to play the 2015 World Cup and missed out. This, as he said not long ago, is a World Cup for those who play only Tests. I know this would mean the world to him,” said the man of the series with 32 scalps.

India also surpassed New Zealand to become the World No.1 Test side with 122 rating points from 37 games.