Picture Credit: Getty Images
Cricket lovers around the globe are eagerly waiting for the ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand. The teams will fight it out at Southampton on June 18 and after a cycle of home and away Tests, one has got to believe that two of the best teams in Test cricket- in recent form- have made it for the summit clash. In addition, both the teams are also the number 1 and number 2 ranked teams in the ICC Test Rankings all of which suggests this could be a thrilling game of red-ball cricket.
Although it is likely to be a closely contested game, former England captain Michael Vaughan has picked a clear favourite. He has even predicted the winner of the game based on his reading of the conditions and the strengths and weaknesses of both the teams. While Virat Kohli would be pumped to lead his team to a maiden ICC trophy under his leadership, Vaughan has suggested the Kiwis will have the upper hand.
It’s quite an obvious one for me: Vaughan
"New Zealand (will win). English conditions, the Duke ball, and India on the back of a busy schedule… they’ll arrive pretty much a week before and go straight into it, [and] New Zealand have two test matches, you could argue warmups against England to get them prepared for the final. So it’s quite an obvious one for me," Michael Vaughan said on Spark Sport.
Also Read: Close to 4000 fans set to be a part of WTC final between India & New Zealand
"New Zealand will be better prepared and they’ll have more of a group of players who’ve played more cricket with the red ball, particularly the Duke ball here in the UK. New Zealand, all the way," he added.
Earlier, Vaughan had hinted that Virat Kohli isn't the greatest player but is famous because he happens to be from India and uses Instagram.
"I’m not just saying it because I’m speaking to you guys in New Zealand but I think Kane Williamson is up there with the great players across the three formats and he certainly matches Virat Kohli. It’s just he doesn’t have the 100 million followers on Instagram and doesn’t earn the $30-40 million or whatever Virat gets every year for his commercial endorsements," Vaughan had said.