India’s Virat Kohli needs to rediscover his touch from their 2018 tour of England to succeed in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, according to former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar. Kohli had struggled against deliveries outside the off-stump during India’s 2014 tour of England. However, he managed to turn things around four years later, scoring 593 runs at an average of 59.3 and hitting two hundreds in difficult conditions. Manjrekar highlighted Kohli’s approach in the 2018 series, where he went “the old-fashioned way of leaving the ball outside off-stump”, and recommended the Indian captain return to this formula.
Kohli heads into the WTC Final in a rich vein of form, having scored runs across all formats over the past 12 months. He amassed 639 runs in 14 Indian Premier League matches earlier this year. Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan, who was also present during the Star Sports panel discussion, praised Kohli’s confidence in himself and his abilities and declared that Kohli is a “completely different” player than the one who played in 2014.
The WTC Final between India and Australia will take place at the Oval, with the Indian side hoping Kohli can fire on all cylinders in the middle-order against a strong Australian side.
The World Test Championship is a biennial competition that began in 2019. Nine nations are taking part, playing in a round-robin league competition, with the two best teams advancing to the final. The inaugural final will be contested by India and New Zealand, with the winner crowned Test cricket’s first-ever world champions.
India had an impressive run during the league competition, winning 12 out of the 17 Tests played. Six of those wins came at home, and six away from home, with one draw. Meanwhile, New Zealand won seven out of their 11 Tests, playing six of those matches at home and five away.
The teams will be playing for the ICC Test Championship Mace, which is awarded to the team that tops the Test rankings at the April 1 cut-off date. The mace signifies the team at the top of Test cricket and celebrates excellence in the longest format of the game.
After an impressive IPL campaign, Kohli will look to recreate his 2018 form against Australia to help India secure a historic win. Given Kohli’s recent performances, Indian fans can be optimistic about their skipper’s chances of guiding the team to victory, though Australia will be no pushovers.
The strength of Australia’s pace bowling attack, with Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood among their ranks, and the skill of their batsmen, including Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, means India will need to be at the top of their game to triumph.
This promises to be an exciting and closely contested match, with the result likely to come down to which team can overcome its opposition’s strengths. With Kohli leading from the front, India will be hoping to secure a maiden Test cricket world championship and write themselves into the history books.
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