New Zealand may have a slight edge in WTC final: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India batsman turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar thinks that New Zealand will have a slight edge against India in the final of the World Test Championship which begins a little more than a month later in Southampton, England.

“If the World Test Championship final is held in India, New Zealand would be sent packing by the hosts inside three days, but that it’s going to be played in England, and that too in the first half of the English summer makes NZ a much bigger hurdle for India to cross to win the WTC,” wrote Manjrekar in his column for Hindustan Times.

Majrekar cited the example of India’s tour to New Zealand, terming the Kiwis “India’s real discomfort.”

“To India’s credit, their batsmen have become pretty good of late at handling pace and bounce and hence the improving record in Australia. But NZ, well, that’s India’s real ‘discomfort zone’ as was evident in how India lost the last Test series there. The highest score India could get in the three Tests was 242. To be fair, NZ themselves struggled but they were a little better than India in batting and a great distance better in bowling.”

The 55-year-old thinks that New Zealand bowlers are better equipped to utilize the English conditions. Although, he called the Indian bowling efficient, he was quick to point out what went wrong for Virat Kohli’s bowlers in New Zealand.

“To summarise based on just weather and pitch conditions, NZ may have a slight edge at Southampton; they are just a little more at home than India and have players, especially bowlers, naturally suited to exploit such conditions. Indian bowling is efficient, but in NZ they paid a heavy price for hitting the deck too much and not bowling the ball full and getting it to swing like the Kiwi bowlers did.”