WTC Final | Virat Kohli defends playing two spinners, reiterates support for World Test Championship

India skipper Virat Kohli said that the Indian team management made a ‘unanimous’ decision of naming a playing XI that had two spinners in it as they believed it was the ‘best-balanced team’ they could have fielded to cover all the bases against New Zealand.

He said that India could have fielded a different playing XI only if they have had the luxury of a fast-bowling all-rounder but they backed their players to produce goods in the big game.

“You need to have a fast-bowling allrounder for that. We've been successful with this combination in different conditions. We thought this was our best combination, and we had batting depth as well, and if there was more game time, the spinners would have come into the game more as well,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

Pointing out the factors that found his side come up short against a relentless Blackcaps side, Kohli said that the rain break towards the end of the second day’s play and a delayed start on the next day derailed the momentum that India were riding on having lots just three wickets.

He said that New Zealand bowlers were too disciplined for India batsmen to run away with the game and in the end, they fell short by at least 30 runs to challenge the Kiwi batting lineup.

“The first day got washed out, and when play resumed it was difficult to get any momentum. We lost only three wickets, but we could have got more runs if the play had gone on without the interruptions. Today, the Kiwi bowlers executed their plans to perfection and pushed us back, and we were probably 30 or 40 runs short,” Kohli added.

Former England captain Michael Atherton, who was one of the commentators and the host of the post-presentation ceremony, pressed Kohli on the relevance of the World Test Championship and its impact on the overall state of the longest format of the game.

Kohli reiterated his support for the idea of a global championship in Test cricket, which he called as ‘heartbeat’ of the game and said that it will energise the competitions among teams which will lead to a lack of ‘boring’ Tests as teams will be in pursuit of results.

“It's great for the game, the more the Test format is given importance, and the Test format is the heartbeat of the international format,” Kohli said.

India will now play a five-match Test series against England starting first week of August and there was no loss of optimism in Kohli's views on India's prospect in that series.