In our mind, we had qualified for WTC final way before things got complicated: Kohli
Jun 17, 2021
Southampton [UK], June 17 : India skipper Virat Kohli reckons the change in World Test Championship (WTC) points system in November last year acted as fuel for the squad in qualifying to the final of the showpiece event.
Last year, the ICC had decided to change the point-rating system of WTC due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WTC table was revised to rank teams based on the percentage of points earned from the series played, meaning teams were ranked in order of percentage of points earned.
India, which was on top of the table, got suddenly toppled by Australia but the Kohli-led side has played some remarkable cricket since then to qualify for the WTC final.
"It wasn't supposed to be a topsy turvy ride, to be honest. When you were sitting at home and rules changed suddenly and you get confused about what happened.
"Without anyone's control, we did not miss or choose to miss any series through the course of this WTC. We pretty much played everything that was there and presented to us," said Kohli while replying to a query from ANI during a virtual press conference
The Indian skipper said the side had mentally qualified for the WTC final but the change in points system allowed them to be more hungry during the subsequent series.
"In our mind, we had qualified way before things got complicated anyway. However that just gave us more determination and more clarity as to where we want to go and what we want to achieve. So looking back now probably was a good thing that happened as there was no room for complacency," said Kohli.
"If we would have qualified earlier maybe we would have relaxed a little bit. The situation allowed us to be more hungry and more determined and know exactly what was going to be and we used that as a fueling factor and motivation to keep moving forward," he added.
India will be locking horns against New Zealand in the finals, beginning June 18, at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
The winners of the much-awaited WTC final will take home a purse of USD 1.6 million along with the ICC Test Championship Mace.
The losing team will get USD 800,000 for finishing second in the nine-team competition, which was played over a near two-year cycle, adding context to Test cricket and to crown the first official world champions in the longest format of the game.
