Michael Vaughan predicts WTC Final winner
Cricket fans have marked their calendars as India and New Zealand are gearing up for the much-awaited ICC World Test Championship final. The Ageas Bowl in Southampton will host the summit clash, which gets underway on June 18. Both India and New Zealand have done exceptionally well in Test cricket lately and are even holding the top two places in the ICC Test rankings.
While fans are excepting a cracker of the contest, Michael Vaughan has picked a clear favourite. The former England captain opined that New Zealand would walk away with the title as the English conditions will suit them. Notably, Kane Williamson’s men will meet hosts England in a two-match Test series before crossing swords with India in the WTC final.
Hence, they have a great chance to adapt the conditions. Moreover, Team India has to serve a 24-day long quarantine period (14 days in Mumbai and 10 days in Southampton), and they’ll not have much time to get into the groove. Highlighting all these facts, Vaughan said the Kiwis are obvious favourites.
Vaughan reckons New Zealand have conditions in their favour
“New Zealand (will win). English conditions, the Duke ball, and India on the back of a busy schedule… they’ll arrive pretty much a week before and go straight into it, [and] New Zealand have two test matches, you could argue warmups against England to get them prepared for the final. So it’s quite an obvious one for me,” Michael Vaughan said on Spark Sport.
“New Zealand will be better prepared and they’ll have more of a group of players who’ve played more cricket with the red ball, particularly the Duke ball here in the UK. New Zealand, all the way,” the 46-year-old added.
Those who follow Vaughan on social media and his sensational interviews must be knowing that the former England batsman always stays in the limelight for his predictions. Last year, Vaughan predicted that Australia will whitewash India 4-0 after Virat Kohli’s men suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat in the first Test. However, the visitors defied all the odds and shocked the Aussies with a 2-1 triumph.
Meanwhile, Team India will be determined to win the WTC Final, and unlike the Australia series, they have a full-strength team. However, they don’t have much preparation time, while New Zealand will get into the grove with the England Test series. Hence, it would be interesting to see how the inaugural WTC final unfolds.
