New Zealand are Champions for inaugural season

 

For a country that takes a pride in rugby, cricket as a sport has always been secondary to the people. But this country has produced world-class cricketers. The team has performed extremely well in the ODI and T20 being the final of two consecutive world cup and semi-final in T20 World Cup. And now the rise in Test Cricket that is the longest format of the game and now they are the champions of WTC (World Test Championship) 2021 for which we all were waiting from past 144 years. 

Year.             Event.                   Result

2015.          ICC CWC.        LOST BY AUS (FINAL)

2016.          ICC T20.          LOST BY ENG (SF)

2019.          ICC CWC.         LOST BY ENG (FINAL)

2021.           ICC WTC.       WON FROM INDIA (FINAL)

On the other hand it was one of the finest team of Cricket India. The team which has never won any ICC trophies since 2014.

Year.                 Event.                 Result

2014.               ICC WT 20.    LOST FROM SL(Final)

2015.               ICC CWC.       LOST FROM Aus (SF)

2016.               ICC WT 20.     LOST FROM WI (SF)

2017.               ICC CT.     LOST FROM PAK (FINAL)

2019.               ICC CWC.  LOST FROM NZ (SF)

2021.               ICC WTC.  LOST FROM NZ(FINAL)

Where did India lose the game ?

• Lost the toss - Sometimes, It happens that the spinning of the toss can give you the lead in the match and it exactly happened the same for the NZ team. When this game was scheduled for 5 days, Day 1 was the washout, and on Day 2 The Captain lost the toss through which they were bounded to do the batting first and they couldn't make too many runs at the board which resulted in the backfoot position. All the pressure rises when the opponent has taken the lead and when you come at batting for 3rd innings which is the crucial time for the game. In these circumstances, if the team gains more runs on the board, the near outcome is probably winning the match and if the team doesn't secure an ample amount of runs, it loses the match. Subsequently, India had uncertainly the latter and they lost the game.

• Inconsistency of Top Order - In the test match, we generally talk about Top 6 Holders for batting and when it comes to the 7th Batsman, it is the presumption that he will add some crucial runs for the team. Having an average above 40, the Indian Cricket Team should ponder upon the location of playing, currently like they are playing out of India, i.e, England. There is a big concern that has to be taken into account that Virat and Pujara have the last Century in 2019, now it's almost 20-22 months without any century achieved yet. In big games like Semi-final and Final, they have to think about their top order. The team should play their natural game and execute plans for the team.

Eg - Remember the Test Match against Australia played in Brisbane where India secured 186-6 scores on the day and surprisingly the unbeatable partnership between Thakur and Sundar added 123 runs in the match.

• Tailenders' Contribution in Batting - The inconsistency in top order brings unended pressure on tailenders due to which they perform below par. Eg - In the final against NZ, India's bottom 4 in 1st innings made 35 runs, and in the 3rd innings players scored 28 runs only where they lacked and had a below par score and lost the match. NZ bottom 4 scored 87 runs in 2nd innings. From these crucial runs of bottom 4 they picked a much-needed lead of 32 runs in the Finals.

• Team Selection - Playing with 3 fast bowlers and 2 spinners, it was a wrong call, and that too with the 2 seam pacers and 1 Swing bowler. Instead of picking Jasprit Bumrah they should have preferred Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the squad because of his Swing bowling and also known as the King of Swing of India. Choosing an experienced player into the squad could also be the option and they should Play with 4 Pacers and 1 spinner and consequently on the other side 5 pacers and no spinner.

Most runs in WTC 

1675 Marnus Labuschagne 

1660 Joe Root 

1341 Steven Smith

1334 Ben Stokes

1159 Ajinkya Rahane

Most Wickets in WTC 

71 Ravichandran Ashwin

70 Pat Cummins

69 Stuart Broad 

56 Tim Southee

56 Nathan Lyon

It's perspicuous to us that the players of New Zealand are very humble and polite. The cricket team of New Zealand encapsulates a bunch of players having the qualities of dedication, discipline, hard work, determination, and skilled in their abilities. This is probably their best side and now they won their 1st ICC trophy for New Zealand after 91 years. I am feeling proud of my country that they are so resilient in bringing a smile on the face of every citizen of India. Indians never give up and till the last ball, they were in the game but unfortunately, NZ was more dominating in the match. 

Hence, New Zealand won the match by 8 wickets.