Virat Kohli does not see WTC final as 'final frontier', says team India built on 'belief'

Dismissing the idea of the World Test Championship as the ‘final frontier’ for his side as being argued by oms sections, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that the win in the final against New Zealand would be ‘just another’ feather in the ‘big hat’ of the Indian Test team.

He also emphasized the volume of expectations he deals with in every game and said that leading the Indian team is very much different from being the leader of any other country.

He highlighted the journey of the Indian Test team, which he said started not just seven-eight months back but it began as far back as four to five years. He stated that the team management dwelled upon the composition of the side that will make the Indian Test team a world-beater side that can win in all conditions against all sort of opponents in the longest format of the game.

“You can pretty well imagine what kind of pressure we are exposed to. Captaining India and captaining any other country is pretty different,” Kohli said in a video released by the International Cricket Council on its Twitter timeline, highlighting the thought process behind the Indian Test side.

“But, for us, this is not the final frontier. This is just another feather to add to this big hat we have created as a team, a Test team. This is not just good cricket over the last seven-eight months, this is hard work and toil for the last four-five years, understanding what kind of players we need, understanding the strengths that we need as a Test side, the kind of bowling lineup we need to win test matches everywhere in the world, the kind of batsmen we need with different roles to play in the squad.”

He accentuated the ‘belief’ that the Indian Test side carries with itself after the ‘toil’ of so many years in preparation. He said that every member of the team believes the game can be won from any situations and against any team in any conditions and the team has not lacked in that aspect even for one game over the last few years.

“We believe we can win from any situation, we believe that we can beat any side in the world anywhere, and we carry that confidence. Teams have outplayed us at times and we have accepted that but never ever we entered a Test match lacking belief,” Kohli added.

Earlier, in the pre-match press conference, Kohli had downplayed the expectations and larger than life outlook of the World Test Championship final.

The first day’s play of the final against New Zealand has been washed out without a ball being bowled and both sides will face an uphill battle to force a result if weather conditions continue to play spoilsport.