Aakash Chopra, the cricket analyst and former India opener, has no doubts about the prestige of the World Test Championship (WTC) final. But he feels that the lack of equal preparation for the two competing teams does not make it a fair test of a team’s ability.
New Zealand will enter the final on June 18 having won a two-Test series against England. India last played a Test in March.
“The fact is that India has been the No.1 Test side for the last four or five years. And this is a one-off Test match,” Chopra told moneycontrol.com in a recent conversation.
“I understand the importance of the WTC and am not downplaying it, but even if India were to lose this match, they won’t be an inferior side. Because they’ve been the No. 1 side the last several years.”
Indian coach Ravi Shastri was among those who felt that ideally the final should have been a best-of-three affair. If that was the case, Chopra feels India would have been favoured to win. Then there was the much discussed preparation aspect.
“If it were to be a three-match series, India would likely come out on top, because you’d expect the better team to win. And everything has to be absolutely equal (for a fair contest), right? If New Zealand get to play two Test matches before the final, so should India,” Chopra said. “So it (the final) won’t be a true reflection of how good a team is.”
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