Southampton: India captain Virat Kohli hailed New Zealand for winning the inaugural World Test Championship but has suggested comprising a minimum of three Tests between the two finalists.
The 32-year-old Kohli made this remarks after New Zealand won over India by eight wickets at Southampton.
“I am not in absolute agreement of deciding the best Test side in the world over the course of one game,” Kohli said.
“If it is a Test series, it has to be a test of character over three Tests – which team has the ability to come back in the series, or totally blow away the other team. It can’t just be pressure applied over two days of good cricket and then you suddenly you are not a good Test side anymore. I don’t believe in it.” he added.
Kohli opined that the victory or defeat in the one-off final would not carry too much significance for his team.
“It has to be a hard grind and something that definitely needs to be worked around in the future,” he said. “At the end of three matches, where there’s effort, there’s ups and downs, there’s situations changing during the course of the series, a chance to rectify the things you have done in the first game, and then really see who is the better side over the course of a three-match series or something, will be a good measure of how things really are,” he added.
“So we are not too bothered by this result because we understand as a Test side what we have done over the last 3-4 years, not just over the last 18 months. So this is not a measure of who we are as a team [with] the ability and the potential we have had for so many years now.”
New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson also acknowledged Kohli’s argument, but believed a one-off final still had its attraction.
“I suppose the exciting part to finals is that anything can happen. The one-off factor does bring a unique dynamic, which does make it exciting and all these sorts of things, and on any given day anything can happen. We’ve been on all different sides of that statement,” he said.
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