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WTC Final: Which team has a better pace attack? | Analysing whether India or New Zealand boasts of a better pace attack in WTC Final

Nothing is probably going to define the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) finale more than some quality pacers putting up a lethal display of their abilities in the highest stage of Test cricket.

Both India and New Zealand head into this contest with some tremendous fast-bowlers in their ranks. The Kiwis have more or less regularly been known to boast of a potent pace arsenal. However, the emergence of India’s own battery of quicks under the tutelage of skipper Virat Kohli has perhaps scripted their journey to this showpiece encounter too.

New Zealand is coming on the back of an encouraging recent series against England, with most of its players seeming to be in fine touch to gear up for the finale.

“Attack wins you matches, defence wins you titles”, is a term oft-used in football. The cricketing equivalent to it could possibly be, “Batsmen win you matches, whereas bowlers win you tournaments.”

It is not entirely untrue either, given that one has regularly seen modest totals being defended by a quality set of bowlers in high-pressure multi-nation competition encounters. The Indian team management will go into this match with the tried and tested trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack. There were growing calls to accommodate Mohammed Siraj in the XI, arguably in Ishant’s place. But if the latter is fit, this would perhaps be a disservice to the Delhi-based bowler who has been top-notch leading the bowling attack in the last few years.

On the other hand, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner are expected to form New Zealand’s pace quartet. If one observes closely, both teams have certain glaring similarities in their group of pacers. They have the experienced hands of Southee and Ishant, the proven performers in Shami and Boult, with the likes of Bumrah, Jamieson and Wagner instilling the sense of unpredictability that often turns out to be the major point of difference in matches of this magnitude.

The New Zealand pacers have certain advantages in their way. Firstly, as has been asserted many a time before, they will be playing in conditions that they are by and large quite familiar with. Moreover, they have played competitive cricket in the recent series vs England, again in similar conditions, and perhaps could be better geared up for fronting the challenges than their Indian counterparts.

But, this Indian unit has time and again shown that it never shies away from adapting to alien conditions seamlessly. So, one should better anticipate Kohli’s pacers to be all charged up with adequate practice ahead of the big game.

To determine which of the pace attacks has an advantage over the other, it is necessary to view it largely in the context of the WTC Final only.

The Kiwis have the advantage of having two absolutely brilliant left-arm pacers in their bowling unit. Boult will put Indian opener Rohit Sharma through some grueling test in the initial phases of the game at least. Similarly, Wagner’s ability to bowl incessantly long spells mean that he will keep knocking the doors of the Indian batsmen for an opening somehow. The key here would be to practice patience in abundance.

Nevertheless, the Indian batting can very well tackle the left-arm challenge in the later phases of the innings at least. With southpaws like Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja set to play, one could project the Indian batsmen to work around a strategy to neutralize the most unique threat that the Kiwi pacers have to offer.

But, Jamieson’s skills will have to be combated equally well too. The tall pacer had wreaked havoc in the Indian team’s tour to New Zealand in early 2020. Surely, by now Kohli’s men would have had enough material to understand the challenges that Jamieson has to offer. As aforementioned, this unit never refrains from adapting and accepting thrown difficulties. But, this time around, they will have to mould around their plans extremely well too.

Southee’s incredible ability to extract that just that little amount of movement from the surface will have to be kept a close eye on too.

Check out CricBlog’s WTC Final coverage, including these great articles by talented writers:

• 5 areas of concern for India ahead of the WTC Final
• 3 unlikely players who can impact the WTC Final
• Opinion: New Zealand should go with this attack for the WTC Final

From an Indian perspective, what one has to expect from Ishant, Shami and Bumrah is more or less known. Regardless of poor team performances in England in 2018, the trio had managed to carve out a name for themselves. The three pacers complement each other brilliantly, with each one of them excelling in different phases of the innings that give the fast-bowling battery a further holistic shape.

They didn’t have a specifically great series in New Zealand in 2020 though, which was also driven by the fact that Bumrah had just returned from a serious injury and wasn’t firing from all cylinders either. This time around, they will be much better prepared and also playing in conditions similar to the one in 2018 gives them a general understanding of what to expect from the track too.

By and large, it is arguably difficult to rank either of the pace units better than each other. Sticking one’s neck out and making improbable predictions doesn’t make much sense either. Nevertheless, one can very well conclude that two incredibly brilliant fast-bowling attacks could very well be the decisive stimulants that can allow their respective teams to lift the maiden WTC title.

Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.