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Monty Panesar feels conditions will have a major say in deciding outcome of WTC final

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Former England left-arm orthodox spinner Monty Panesar is hoping to see a good battle between bat and ball in the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand. 

While he feels that New Zealand might be the favourites if the conditions suit seam and swing bowling, Panesar is of the opinion that the situation can change drastically if the weather is clear and the pitch is dry. 

At the moment, the conditions in England are cold with showers expected every now and then. If it continues the same way New Zealand will have an advantage feels Panesar. 

“At the moment there is a lot of rain around. If the weather stays like this then it will be an interesting battle between the Indian and New Zealand seamers. The New Zealand batsman also play the moving ball better than Indian batsmen,” Panesar was quoted as saying by PTI.

“So, that, that would be quite interesting to see if the ball is swinging and moving at some stage during the Test match, how the Indian batsmen, stand up to it compared to New Zealand,” Panesar added during his telephonic interview with PTI. 

With two frontline spinners in their ranks, it will be a headache for the coach and the captain to pick the spinner for the all-important final. If the condition is dry and the weather is clear, India might well be tempted to go with both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Speaking on the same, Panesar said that the conditions will play a big part in deciding the winner of the inaugural WTC. 

“They have got a great draining system at the Ageas Bowl. Normally you see nice good hot weather. Hopefully, the game will go on for the whole four to five days,” he said.


“On that basis, you are looking at two spinners (Ashwin and Jadeja) from India and three seamers. If the weather is clear then India becomes favourites. So it depends a lot on the conditions,” Panesar further added. 

 

The left-arm spinner who played a pivotal role in England’s last series win in India back in 2012 feels that if the match was to be played in a week’s time he would have definitely picked India as the favourites as they seem to have all their bases covered and have played the hardest cricket in the recent past. They managed to script a historic series win in Australia before thrashing England 3-1 at home after going down 0-1. 

 

“If you said the WTC final is in a week’s time, I would pick India as they have played much more hard cricket. The team is probably believing that it can win from any situation, while New Zealand have played good cricket, but they haven’t really had the hard victories like India,” Panesar said.

 

“What really makes a top team is when you win from really difficult, tough situations,” he concluded. Meanwhile, Panesar had also backed India to whitewash England in their own den when they lock horns against the hosts in a five-match Test series starting from August. 

 

 

 

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