Monty Panesar lavishes praise on Ravi Shastri for building such a strong Indian team.
The excitement for the ICC World Test Championship Final is at an all-time high amongst the fans and cricketing pundits with many choosing their favourites to win between India and New Zealand. Some experts feel India will be the straight winner while some have a completely opposite viewpoint. Monty Panesar, former English spinner, has a rather cheeky take on the battle.
Panesar reckons that India’s head coach Ravi Shastri is someone who has stuffed the self-belief in the Indian outfits and has played a massive part in driving India to the final of the ICC WTC final. He further stated that although Virat is the skipper of the side, Ravi Shastri has built a ruthless and never give up attitude amongst the squad.
“It is Ravi Shastri who has built a self-belief in this Indian cricket team. What they achieved in Australia after the infamous ’36’ in Adelaide is quite a miracle. They won the series even though their charismatic captain, Virat Kohli didn’t play the rest of the series, and India kept losing players to injury,” Panesar added, As reported in NDTV Sports.
The 39-years old former cricketer also feels that India’s historic win Down Under in the absence of Virat Kohli and other senior cricketers was mainly due to Shastri’s fine coaching style.
“It was Shastri who got the job done for India against Australia that too in their backyard”, said the former cricketer.
India will combat the Kiwi challenge in the final of the ICC World Test Championship final, starting June 18.
Panesar was balanced with his approach to pick his favorites. He said both the teams have a fair chance of winning the inaugural championship.
“If there will be an overcast condition then Kane Williamson-led New Zealand will have an upper edge, but at the same time the Ageas Bowl has a great drainage system, and if weather permits and the game went on to Day four or five, India would have a great chance to win the championship”, he said.
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