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5 reasons why New Zealand won the WTC Final | Looking at 5 key areas that New Zealand got right in the WTC Final vs India

A tenacious New Zealand lifted the inaugural World Test Championship title with a comfortable eight-wicket win over India on the sixth and final day of the marquee event in Southampton. Veteran Ross Taylor and skipper Kane Williamson stood unflustered against a stern pace attack and effective spin duo to guide New Zealand to their first major ICC trophy since 2000.

Prior to the start of the game, India started as slight favourites with the bookmakers, but it was expected that the resilient Kiwi team would give it their all in the big-ticket final. The Kane Williamson-led New Zealand team played better cricket throughout the four days of riveting action of a 6-day Test and was deservingly crowned as the WTC title winners. Starting with the toss right down to finishing the game in due time, New Zealand were always a couple of steps ahead of India.

All 11 players played their part in some way or another to help their team to claim the Test mace. So in this article will search for the reasons why New Zealand edged past India to take the mace home.

1. New Zealand’s ideal preparation leading up to the big-ticket final

The number one Test team in the world couldn’t have asked for better scheduling than playing a 2-match Test series against England ahead of their summit clash against India. The Kiwis got a fair idea of the conditions and enjoyed some much-needed match practice. This was in contrast to India, who only played intra-squad matches to prepare themselves for the one-off game.

New Zealand were terrific against England winning the series 1-0, which boosted the morale of the team and lifted their spirits to win another Test match and claim the world title.

2. Winning the toss and selecting the right XI

Day 1 of the WTC final Test was washed out due to rain. When the toss could finally happen on day two, Kane Williamson called it right and elected to field first in a cloudy Southampton. The moment he won the toss he looked assured of what his team wanted to do.

A lot of talk before the game was about New Zealand’s bowling and looking at the overhead conditions, he made the right call of playing four frontline seamers and Colin de Grandhomme with Ajaz Patel missing out on selection. The decision to bowl first was proven right by the bowlers who made the bowl talk and restricted the Indian batting line-up.

Overcast conditions and moisture certainly played a big part throughout the course of the 4-day play. Indians traditionally play spin well and with not much happening for the slower bowlers, captain Williamson’s choice of players was on spot.

3. Swinging masterclass from Kyle Jamieson

Kyle Jamieson, the most devastating newcomer to Test cricket in recent times, eearned the Player of the Match award for his outstanding returns. The 6 foot 8 inches tall fast bowler picked up 7 wickets for 61 runs in 46 overs in the match, including 5-31 from 22 overs in the first innings. Notably, his first innings performance was the most economical fifer for a New Zealand bowler against India in Tests, bowled at a rate of just 1.41. Also, twice in the game, he got the prize wicket of his RCB skipper, Virat Kohli.

Not only did he pick up wickets, but he didn’t give too many freebies for the Indians to score. Hence, he was economical and choked the opposition batting with 22 maidens in 46 overs bowled. Jamieson’s ability to swing the ball with control made him the most successful bowler of the game. Moreover, his height helped him extract a lot of bounce off the track which made it even more difficult to bat against him, as it is a huge challenge to get forward to such a tall bowler.

4. Kane Williamson, the captain and batsman, rose to the occasion

Before the final, Williamson had racked up 261 runs from five Tests in England at 26.10 including 1 hundred, 1 fifty. So, the numbers weren’t favouring the Kiwi maestro to do well in this Test, and he also had an elbow injury that required injections to overcome it.

Despite this, Williamson stood up for his team when it mattered most and battled out against a top-quality Indian bowling attack. Kane made 49 and 52 not out in the low-scoring final and stamped his authority as a high-class batsman in challenging conditions.

Also, as a captain, his on-field tactics were there for everyone to see. He was simply brilliant with his field placements and bowling changes. If one has to describe Kane Williamson’s game, then it was a perfect match that he must have dreamt of since he made his international debut for New Zealand. He was the best batsman in the WTC final, and is the first captain to win the ICC World Test Championship – a fairytale game every player wishes for and Williamson wasn’t lucky but deserving to get all these accolades.

5. Valuable runs coming from the bat of the Kiwi tailenders

Before the match, much was made of the battle between the respective lower orders. It was surely why India chose both Jadeja and Ashwin to provide extra batting cover down the order.

However, it was the New Zealand lower order that was successful in making significant contributions to the team’s first innings total after they bowled India out for 217. With captain Kane Williamson glued at one end with his team reeling at 162 for the loss of six wickets, the Black Caps tail added 87 runs after having lost six wickets which helped the team to gain a significant lead of 32 runs in the first innings. These runs not only put New Zealand ahead of India in the first innings, but it also came in quick time and gave the Kiwis that crucial extra time to seal victory late on day six.

New Zealand outperformed India in all three aspects and deservingly won the world title. Their players showed great heart and character in the 6-day final and as they say, finally the nice guys were at the right end of the results.

“Redemption for New Zealand, Agony, agony for India”.

Written by Vaibhav Tripathi. Follow Vaibhav on Twitter today.