Indian team captain Virat Kohli has shared a hart touching message on social media following the side’s extreme loss to New Zealand in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton on Wednesday.
India’s barren run in ICC events proceeded as they failed to stand up to an inspired New Zealand side, and went down by 8 wickets despite 2 full days in the Test being lost to rain. Under Virat Kohli, India had first stumbled in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan and the 2019 World Cup semi-final against the Black Caps.
While the dust is yet to settle on another disappointing show from India in a major ICC encounter, on Thursday Virat Kohli took to his official social media account to share a note of solidarity with a photo of Team India in a huddle. The Indian skipper wrote:
“This isn’t just a team. It’s a family. We move ahead. TOGETHER.”
On the other side, India’s failure to win ICC events, Virat Kohli’s lack of big scores in these difficult games have come under the scanner again. The 32-year-old was dismissed for 44 and thirteen in the WTC final. He was returned by Kyle Jamieson, his teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, both times. Virat Kohli had completed only 5 runs in the 2017 Champions Trophy and was lbw for 1 in the 2019 World Cup semi-final.
Virat Kohli calls for best-of-three finals to pick WTC winner
While admitting that New Zealand was the better of the 2 teams in Southampton, Virat Kohli opined that having a decent series would be a fairer manner to pick who is the best Test team in the world. Earlier, Indian coach Ravi Shastri had also shared a similar opinion.
At a virtual press conference following India’s loss in the WTC final, Virat Kohli opined:
“I am not in absolute agreement of deciding the best Test side in the world over the course of one game. 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 suddenly you are not a good Test side anymore. I don’t believe in it.”
A round of applause to #TeamIndia for their incredible journey to the #WTC21 Final. 👏 👏
Congratulations to New Zealand for winning the World Test Championship. 👍👍
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/CmrtWscFua pic.twitter.com/iveB9RTUDa
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 23, 2021
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