Last Update: June 06, 2023, 13:44 IST
London, United Kingdom (UK)
Indian cricket team during training (Twitter/Screengrab)
Indian cricket team practiced hard before the World Test Championship final against Australia
The Indian men’s cricket team trained hard to prepare for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval in London from Wednesday.
Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav stepped out for training as coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma spoke to the team.
Dravid was seen keeping a close eye on the nets while Kohli, Rahane, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara were seen holding their bats. Along with Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat was also seen bowling.
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The WTC, a two-year cycle of games ending in the final, was devised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to give more context to Test cricket.
India head coach Rahul Dravid believes the World Test Championship has added context to matches worth points.
“I really hope that, when you have some context for a lot of these bilateral games because of things like the World Test Championship, not that they don’t have context in themselves. Whenever you play for your country, against anybody else, there is always context and you always want to win those series.”
“But really hopefully it will encourage a lot more teams to potentially be able to play a lot more Test cricket or be able to find a way to play a lot more Test cricket. I know it’s complicated and it’s hard to go into depth in one press conference and there are many reasons why it’s not happening, there are many things that go into it, both in terms of time and finance.”
“But of course, we would like to see more Test cricket – personally at least, I would like to see more Test cricket played. We play a lot of it. England and Australia are probably the other two countries that play it a lot .. But the point system really gives everyone a chance to be able to play these,” Dravid said at the press conference before the start of the WTC final on Wednesday.
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The India-Australia clash marks the culmination of the second edition, with New Zealand defeating India in the inaugural 2021 final in Southampton.
Ahead of the WTC final, Virat Kohli said that he is always motivated to do well against Australia as they rarely give their opponents a chance to do well.
“I understand the mindset that all 11 players are on the same page and they will try to capitalize even an inch. So, my motivation goes up against this team (Australia) which is so aware and competitive, I have to up my game,” Kohli said.
“The motivation and drive he has, he won’t let you hold back in the game. So I had to take my game to the next level,” Kohli said.
(with inputs from agencies)
