India will begin their journey in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship on Thursday (22nd August). Indian captain Virat Kohli is excited about this new programme.
Virat Kohli is the no.1-ranked Test and ODI batsman at present. The Indian star batsman is one of the big supporters of Test cricket. He always defends this longer-format cricket.
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Now, Kohli is excited about the ICC World Test Championship. He feels that it is the right move as it is going to make the Test cricket more competitive. The Indian captain believes that the Test cricket has gone up two-fold in the last couple of years.
Kohli said during the discussion in the CWI/WIPA awards night, “The games are going to be much more competitive and it brings a lot of purpose to the Test matches you play. It’s the right move and the absolute right time.
“People have been talking about Test cricket not being relevant or dying down. For me, the competition has gone up two-fold the last couple of years.”
There will hardly be any boring draws – Virat Kohli
The top nine-ranked Test teams are participating in this 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship. These teams are India, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Windies. In the next two years, each team will play three home Test series and three away Test series against the different sides.
Each game has points in this tournament. At the end of the league stage of this tournament, the top two teams in the final points table will meet in the final, which will be a one-off Test at Lord’s. The winner of the final will win the 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship trophy.
Virat Kohli believes that this tournament will almost eliminate the boring draws in Test cricket.
He added, “It’s up to the players to take the challenge and go for victories. That’s going to be the essence of this Test championship as well. There will hardly be any boring draws, there will be exciting draws, because everyone will want those extra points.”
Indian captain believes the batsmen will face more challenge due to this tournament
The no,1-ranked Test and ODI batsman Virat Kohli feels that the batsmen will now face a harder job due to the pressure of this tournament.
Kohli claimed, “I don’t think us batsmen have lived up to the standard. Batsmanship will always be hard at the Test level, but even harder now with the Championship where every decision you make counts in the larger scheme of things.
“It’s about continuing the same work we’ve done and making sure we’re consistent enough like we have been over the past couple of seasons.”
The 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship has begun with the Ashes 2019. The hosts England and Australia have already played two Tests in this series.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are playing the two-match Test series in Sri Lanka. They have already played one match of this series. The cricket fans have enjoyed all these games.
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India and Windies are now set to begin their journey in this tournament. Windies are hosting this two-match Test series that will start on 22nd August.