The World Test Championship Final 2021

First topic message reminder :

The World Test Championship has been something that many of us wanted for a long time, it took time to materialize, and in the middle changed the point system as the pandemic struck. There are imperfections and work need to be done to make more rounded. But it is a great initiative for the truest format. And I feel it merits a separat thread, outside the Rest of the World stuff...
India and New Zealand will be contesting for the first Championship title from 18th June. Both these sides have had some impressive success on way to the final. India's series win against Australia has to be their performance of the cycle, while New Zealand had a fine home record and then they capped it with a first series win in more than 20 years in England just before the final.
Both the sides have also shown some fine bench strength in recent times. India won in Australia effectively without Kohli, and for parts of the series, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and Ishant Sharma who couldn't even make it to the touring party as he was injured. Jadeja and Shami were unavailable for their home series win against England as well. In their absence, Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur, all emerged and Gill has become first choice and Siraj has become first choice squad at the very least. All the original first choice players are now available in the extended squad.
As for New Zealand, their most recent test win, a demolition job on England was achieved with the world number one test batter and their skipper Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson and BJ Watling. Devon Conwy has emerged and has suggested tha he has it in him to solve a major problem New Zealand have had even during this winning run, that of a partner for Tom Latham. Will Young's emergence indicates that even if the 37 year old Ross Taylor decides to move on, they have options. Matthew Henry and Douglas Bracewell are very capable first reserves with a taste of and some success in test cricket, and in Tom Blundell, they have an able replacement for the retiring BJ Watling behind the stumps.
This strong bench strength also introduces some selection dilemmas for both sides as far as the final is concerned. Will it be Ashwin and Jadeja both for India? Will it be the first choice attack of Bumrah, Shami and Ishant, or will Siraj make it ahead of Ishant? Or will they go in with all 4 with Jadeja batting 7?
Will New Zealand bench one of their established pace quartet to include a spinner? Or will they play all 4 and the skippr himself take on the spin bowling responsibilities? Or will young Rachin Ravindra be given a surprise debut in the all-rounder slot? If they decide to bench one of the pacers, who would that be? Jamieson is the least experienced of the group but he has fine success against India. Southee and Boult have primed themselves quite fine leading up to the match. Neil Wagner did lack a bit of rhythm in the England series but finished it pretty well. Will be a very tough call for Williamson.
There is a lot exciting in the build-up to the game itself. Hope it will produce great excitement in terms of the actual cricket, like the last ICC event final!

Ashwin also looking to take on Wagner . Interesting. Not sure Pant will appreciate it if he gets out quickly and leaves him with the rabbits ...

Quick runs would be useful , true. But should he be going hard so early ?

Really smart from New Zealand. After Jadeja got out, Pant has been on strike for only 6 balls while Ashwin has already played 15.

spread out field...easy runs....why is NZ doing it
the moment lead crosses 140 IMO....pressure starts shifting on NZ significantly

You silly boy, Pant gifts his wicket. Wasn't the easiest catch for Nicholls as he was never set.

The path is clear for New Zealand. They need to wrap it up before tea.

Pant gone. NZ know what they're doing , I think.

Needed that wicket as scoring rates in this match suggest chasing at even four per over wouldn't be easy. But with only the tail left ...

Pant gone. Huge wicket. I was loving watching him bat though. He's quickly become one of my favourite cricketers.

I've not seen as much of this Test as I wanted to due to work but off today so have finally got to watch a bit. A brilliantly poised Test.

Jamieson in particular has bowled magnificently.

So : lead 124. Still what , 55 overs left , allowing for the change...so India need to bat another fifteen overs at least , you'd think - and add a few runs - to leave NZ with a difficult chase.

Ashwin gone ! Don't think they'll be chasing much over 140 ...

And now Ashwin's poor innings ends. Two in three balls for Boult.

The innings nearly done.

Should be done in the next couple of overs at best.

Can Shami slog a few before the end? Won't be surprised if NZ is to chase 125.

Great over for Boult

Can bag Pant for throwing it away but in truth he fell the way he played : if he'd just fiddled around earlier this would probably been just about over by now. His counterattack gave India a chance.

Ashwin more culpable I think : was not a smart innings.

Shami appears readier to score runs than attempt to play for time. Possibly feels there is more chance of bowling NZ out than starving them of overs to chase...

As per Ben Jones on Twitter, NZ chase would now be 2.4rpo. If Shami can slog a few more and leave them needing 3rpo… Not straightforward.

Nice field placing

If a bit obvious. End is nigh...

Wow, that's a clever field placing. Felt Shami (and Ashwin) would have been better off trying to occupy the crease, rather than trying to smash a quick 20.

One more left.

Duty281 wrote:Wow, that's a clever field placing. Felt Shami (and Ashwin) would have been better off trying to occupy the crease, rather than trying to smash a quick 20.

One more left.

Certainly think Ashwin could have tried to bat properly. Imagine Shami didn't think he would last long anyway.

Bumrah didn't hold them up long... Southee gets four

53 overs to get 139.

Fantastic from NZ to wrap it up.

Woeful Indian batting, as said previously. It's why England will win the upcoming series v India, even though England's batting is a mess.

I wish India could have dragged 12 more runs and 5 more overs...that would have given them a 3RPO requirement
But it culd have been worse but for the 13 unexpected runs from Shami.
It is what it is...and 139 to win in 50 overs

All 3 results still possible, NZ win the highest probability now, Indian win not zero probability though

So New Zealand need 139 to win. Shouldn't be too difficult a chase. Result very much on the cards... New Zealand 90 percent. India win 6 percent, and draw 4 percent.

Duty281 wrote:Fantastic from NZ to wrap it up.

Woeful Indian batting, as said previously. It's why England will win the upcoming series v India, even though England's batting is a mess.

Its the same Eng that got bowled out for 100 runs on a pitch 3 times more benign than this

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Fantastic from NZ to wrap it up.

Woeful Indian batting, as said previously. It's why England will win the upcoming series v India, even though England's batting is a mess.

Its the same Eng that got bowled out for 100 runs on a pitch 3 times more benign than this

How's the innings win looking, dear boy? India still 90% favourites?

Duty281 wrote:Fantastic from NZ to wrap it up.

Woeful Indian batting, as said previously. It's why England will win the upcoming series v India, even though England's batting is a mess.

Not putting money on that just yet England batting lately makes this Indian effort look quite respectable...

Really should see a result now - contrary to my overnight expectations

NZ should do this without too much difficulty as the RRR isn't all that... But India won't lie down and some early wickets could threaten a miracle comeback...

Really glad to be wrong and see this match having a proper conclusion

It should be comfortable enough for New Zealand. With the absence of the dark cloud, this is arguably the easiest day for batting in the test. The only thing that can stop them is if the pressure suffocates them/an Indian bowler produces one of the great spells of test cricket.

Jamieson should be MOTM if NZ win - 7/61 from 46 overs are his match figures. Incredible.

That's the toughest period negotiated safely by the openers. 19/0 at tea.

Bumrah & Ishant need to stand up...they cannot go on for too long on reputation alone
and Kohli needs to infuse One bowler who can bat a bit more .....i.e Bhuvi or Shardul

India needs 5 tight overs for like 3 runs after tea

Well we should get a result now. Must say I thought India would be able to bat it out today. You have to think that NZ are bringing to the first Test Championship final their finest-ever X1 - certainly their strongest-ever pace-bowling attack.

Haven't read all the above posts so apologies if I'm repeating stuff. But the weather has certainly helped NZ, especially as they had two "warm-up" Tests in England.

But if they do pull it off, NZ will have thoroughly deserved it, particularly given the time lost in the match.

What a shocking shot by Latham - all at sea against Ashwin

Duty281 wrote:It should be comfortable enough for New Zealand. With the absence of the dark cloud, this is arguably the easiest day for batting in the test. The only thing that can stop them is if the pressure suffocates them/an Indian bowler produces one of the great spells of test cricket.

Jamieson should be MOTM if NZ win - 7/61 from 46 overs are his match figures. Incredible.

The Surrey man (see what I did there ) will be a strong contender but let's see it through to the end before dolling out the awards.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:What a shocking shot by Latham - all at sea against Ashwin

Ashwin bowling very well to left handers as ever but poor by Latham. If not for the time pressure he wouldn't play that shot I'd wager.

New Zealand bottling a final, is it?

What's happened to Michael Gough?!

Kohli looking annoyed.

Williamson saved on review. Huge moment.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:New Zealand bottling a final, is it?

No...

That's a very good ball first up from Shami.

Williamson is such a class act though. Under a lot of pressure from good bowling but still scoring.

king_carlos wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:What a shocking shot by Latham - all at sea against Ashwin

Ashwin bowling very well to left handers as ever but poor by Latham. If not for the time pressure he wouldn't play that shot I'd wager.

Isn't really any time pressure though. They have enough overs to do this comfortably as long as they don't lose a bunch of wickets : if necessary they could always go full on white ball for a few overs once the target was down to under fifty.
Ashwin , you might say , has Latham's number.

Nearly had Williamson ; though I thought it looked to be going down even live. He'll be glad he had plenty of reviews to use as I'm not sure he was certain he'd be reprieved...

He's got Conway now though I think : yes ...44/2 and the game is still alive.

Ashwin's turned up like Warne v England at Trent Bridge in 2005.

alfie wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:What a shocking shot by Latham - all at sea against Ashwin

Ashwin bowling very well to left handers as ever but poor by Latham. If not for the time pressure he wouldn't play that shot I'd wager.

Isn't really any time pressure though. They have enough overs to do this comfortably as long as they don't lose a bunch of wickets : if necessary they could always go full on white ball for a few overs once the target was down to under fifty.
Ashwin , you might say ,  has Latham's number.

Nearly had Williamson ; though I thought it looked to be going down even live. He'll be glad he had plenty of reviews to use as I'm not sure he was certain he'd be reprieved...

He's got Conway now though I think : yes ...44/2 and the game is still alive.

There rapidly could be time pressure if Ashwin can fly through his overs going at basically no runs though!

Terrific spell so far from Ashwin. There must be a temptation to try Jadeja from the other end after this Shami spell.

Yes indeed ! What a difference a wicket makes...

Ashwin has virtually stopped the scoring in its tracks. Taylor - who hasn't been in any sort of form - is understandably hesitant ; and even Williamson is playing cautiously. Remembering Watling will be batting under handicap the Kiwis may need to take advantage of all their great depth to do this.

Now need 89 more in thirty overs. So the next forty or so runs are where India needs to both restrain and strike.

Funny business , chasing these low targets. Pressure can do things to the best of them...

That's good, sensible aggression from Taylor. Shackled too easily by Ashwin, a couple of boundaries just turns it right round.

79 needed.

Duty281 wrote:Ashwin's turned up like Warne v England at Trent Bridge in 2005.

Not a bad comparison, Duty. Though I think you must have been rather young when you saw it

All about pressure of being so close to the Holy Grail. Must admit I was pacing up and down nervously for a while before Giles and Hoggard brought it home. Though it happened a lot faster than this.

The couple of Taylor boundaries off Ashwin might settle some Kiwi nerves...

Two of New Zealand's best ever, are finishing it off... Rosco is producing a champion innings. He may not have looked totally in command at times but the runs that he has put on the board, they are match winning. Williamson ensuring he'll be there to hold things together.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Ashwin's turned up like Warne v England at Trent Bridge in 2005.

Not a bad comparison, Duty.  Though I think you must have been rather young when you saw it

All about pressure of being so close to the Holy Grail. Must admit I was pacing up and down nervously for a while before Giles and Hoggard brought it home. Though it happened a lot faster than this.

The couple of Taylor boundaries off Ashwin might settle some Kiwi nerves...

Doesn't look like New Zealand are going to run it as close to the wire as England did then! Shouldn't need Jamieson or Southee to hit the winning runs.

Only 63 needed...would be nice if Watling could hit the winning runs, or maybe Williamson.

Why is Saha keeping wickets? Just missed the action in between for a while. Pant injured?

India being picked off now, gonna take something special

msp83 wrote:Why is Saha keeping wickets? Just missed the action in between for a while. Pant injured?

Unwell apparently

Jadeja, who rarely bowls Hit-Me deliveries, bowling all his quota for the summer in this innings itself?

There is some proper spin on this track now. Both Ashwin and Jadeja getting the ball to turn sharply at times. If only, if only they had 25 30 more on the board!

India had some belief from those Ashwin wickets, but they needed more than two in that mini-period.

Self-belief seems to have evaporated now. Williamson and Taylor getting on with it swiftly.

And now Taylor's dropped! May have been the last hope.

An untimely miss from Pujara.

Not happening for India as Pujara spills a slips catch off Bumrah...

Bumrah hasn't had a good match. But he nearly rewarded Kohli's faith then...fair to say it was a good bowling change.

Pant being ill might have been seen as an advantage for India as the superior glove man in Saha was there with the two spinners (briefly) operating together.

For all Ashwin's excellence the two experienced Kiwi bats seem to be doing this well now...just fifty needed off 21.