Indian captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara will come out to bat on the reserve day of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand on Wednesday in Southampton. India posted 64/2 at stumps on Day 5 and are 32 runs ahead of Kane Williamson & Co.
The final day of the ongoing face-off will be extremely crucial as both teams would go for a win. The forecast shows clear weather which ensures a full day’s play and the Indian batters will look to utilize this opportunity to create some pressure on the opponents.
Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that captain Kohli will go for the win on the final day of the match. While speaking on Star Sports after the end of Day 5, the cricketer-turned-broadcaster opined if India don’t lose many wickets in the opening hour on Wednesday, there will be a chance for Kohli & Co to dominate.
“We know Virat Kohli is a very aggressive captain. He would always go for the kill, always go for the win. But he would also understand the situation that New Zealand are slightly ahead. But that one hour, if we don’t lose more than one wicket, then we would see the aggressive Virat Kohli there. Obviously, Cheteshwar Pujara will be very crucial as well in that one hour,” Irfan told Star Sports.
“I see India playing around 40 overs. and try to get as many runs as possible. If India reach somewhere close to 160-mark, and then they can give batting and see if they can get early wickets. We have seen in these five days, the morning session has done a bit when it comes to fast bowling moving around. Once you take out that, the game could still be on,” he added.
With a full day’s play expected, India would like to bat at least a session and a half to put themselves in a safe position before giving New Zealand 50 odd overs and 200 plus target if they want to enforce a result.
