We deserve to be in WTC final, quite exciting for us as team: Kohli

Team India on Saturday roared into the final of the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) following an emphatic 3-1 series win over England. Virat Kohli's men

11After reaching the final of the World Test Championship (WTC), India skipper Virat Kohli said that his side completely deserves to be there in the summit clash of the Test Championship.

Team India on Saturday roared into the final of the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) following an emphatic 3-1 series win over England. Virat Kohli’s men, who defeated England in the fourth and final Test by an innings and 25 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium, will now face New Zealand in the WTC final slated to be played from June 18 to 22, with June 23 as the reserve day at the iconic Lord’s Stadium in London.

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“Well, we are quite relieved now that we have made it to the WTC final. Probably, if you look at the last 2-2.5 years and how we have played, we deserve to be in the finals. Now, it’s just about getting together as a group and focusing on that big game which is quite exciting for us as a team,” said Kohli in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

Speaking about the upcoming WTC final, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said: “I think the way we came back as a team, each and every individual stepped up. Credit to everyone, I think everyone hung in there. It is all about the team, we always speak about how we can contribute to the team and that’s what we did. I am really happy as an individual and as a vice-captain. Our journey in not only the WTC, but before that as well, we played really well.”

Batsman Rohit Sharma said that India bounced back after every challenge that was thrown to them, and hence the side completely deserves a place in the finals.

“A big congratulations to every team member and the staff for making it to the final. It has been a long journey since the WTC started, we played well in India and we played outside India as well. We were put in difficult situations many times and we responded well to those situations that is why we stand here in the finals of the WTC. We deserve to be in the finals of the WTC,” said Rohit.

India finished as the number one team with 72.2 percentage points in the WTC points table, the factor that determined the final placings rather than total points won, following a change to the points system owing to the Covid-19 disruption.

The Black Caps were the first team to ensure a place in the final with 70 percentage points. Australia finished third with 69.2 percentage points while England ended with 61.4 percentage points at the fourth position.

The Black Caps had qualified for the WTC final following the postponement of the Test series between South Africa and Australia. In November last year, the ICC had confirmed that the WTC points system would be amended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.