Indian cricketers react after making it to final of World Test Championship

The last few months have been revolutionary for Team India. They beat the two heavyweights in world cricket after being 1-0 down in both the series to seal a berth at the World Test Championship final. Having made it to the final, India is now the first team to have made it to the final of all three ICC World events. Top Indian stars, including Virat Kohli, reacted with elan after achieving the feat.

"We are quite relived now that we've made it to the final. If you look at the last two years how we’ve played, we deserve to be in the final. Now it's just about getting together as a group again and focussing on that one big game which is quite exciting for all of us," Kohli said in a video posted by BCCI.

While Ajinkya Rahane, who led the side in Australia in Kohli’s absence talked about the contributions from everyone in the team.

"I felt the way we came back as a team, each and every individual stepped up. Credit to everyone. Everyone hung in there. It's all about the team. We always think about team goals, how can we contribute for the team and that's what we did. And I'm really happy as an individual, as a vice-captain that we're got this reward," Rahane said.

Rohit Sharma has been another senior cricketer whose batsmanship combined with his inputs to the youngsters have proven to be vital for the team.

"It's been a long journey since the WTC started. We've played cricket well in India, we've played cricket well outside India as well. We were put under pressure, in that difficult situation many times and we responded well, which is why we stand here qualified for the final. We deserve the qualification," said the 33-year-old.

Ishant Sharma has some fond memories from Lord’s. The towering pacer recently got into the 300-wicket-club in Tests and is looking forward to the challenge of playing at the Mecca of cricket.

"Feeling great to be part of this team, looking forward. Very happy that all the effort we have put together in the last two years. We had worked for this," said Ishant.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been in tremendous form in the last few months, and raced to 400-wickets in Tests spoke about how it’s equivalent to playing the 2019 World Cup final.

"For people like Pujji, me, Jinx, Ishant, a lot of us, who didn't play the 2019 world Cup, this is like literally the World Cup. I'm so happy for all of them and the team for getting there. I’m sure we can get a positive result if we adapt quickly because it's just one match that we’ll have as a final. It would have been nicer had there been three, but we just have once. We’ll live with that and we’ll try and give our best shot," said Ashwin.

Apart from Ashwin, Umesh Yadav is another cricketer, who is mostly seen donning the whites for Team India echoed similar sentiments.

"When you get such a big stage of WTC and you know that you're playing Test matches for a long time, this is like a World Cup for us. The guys are really happy so wherever we play – home or away – this team has shown it," Umesh Yadav said.

"We truly deserve this. I think the boys have done really well over the past two years. We never gave up and that’s the motto of the team and that's what Virat as captain and the rest of the seniors in the team are trying to inspire the youngsters with," said KL Rahul, who did not feature in the series against England but was a part of the squad.

Cheteshwar Pujara, whose contributions to India’s success in the Test cannot be complemented enough thinks that the team is prepared and balanced to conquer the final frontier against New Zealand.

"The boys have worked really hard, it's been more than two years since this began. As an individual, I can feel it for the team that all of us are very proud. We are very hopeful that we will do well in the final. It's an amazing feeling for all of us to qualify for the WTC final. We are very confident that we can pull it off," said Pujara.