The ICC is promoting the inaugural World Test Championship final as the 'Ultimate Test', but India captain Virat Kohli has said that the outcome of the one-off match against New Zealand cannot decide which is the "best" team in the format. is. Kohli said his team would instead consider the final as part of India's "quest for excellence".
During a pre-match media briefing on Thursday, Kohli said, "If you are talking about Test cricket and deciding who is the best Test team in the world in a match over a period of five days, it is Truth is not reality." "It's not going to reflect anything for people who really understand the game and know what's happened in the last four to five years and how the teams have performed. You can look at history pretty well. And focus on those things. Don't go your way. At the end of the day you realize you play the game and you're going to be beaten and you're going to win a special day."
The last ICC tournament India won the 2013 Champions Trophy was when MS Dhoni was the captain. In the 2016 T20 World Cup, India had to face defeat in the semi-finals. A year later they lost to Pakistan in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy. In the 2019 World Cup, Kane Williamson's New Zealand overtook Kohli's India in the semi-finals. However, Kohli probably remained unconcerned about being on the verge of lifting his maiden ICC trophy.
"If you win this game, cricket doesn't stop for us. If you lose this game, cricket doesn't stop for us. Our processes, our mindset are what matter most to us and what we do every day." Striving for excellence. And we step on the field to win every test match or every game we play. That's all you can ask our players - to stand up to tough situations and keep proving that You are here and you take great pride in playing for India.
"We're not here to play just one Test. We're here to play six Tests in the English summer. Our players understand their strengths very well and they understand how to use those strengths and they're going to play these six Will do that during the test."
India's 'Search for Excellence'
While India head coach Ravi Shastri had said that the WTC final would be the "biggest" match for India, Kohli played down the exaggeration. Asked whether winning the WTC final would be equivalent to winning the 2011 World Cup, Kohli said he wants India to treat it like another Test match. "For me it's another Test match that has to be played. These things are very exciting from the outside where there is so much importance and so many extra things that are associated with a game and it's kind of a do-and-die.
"As a team, we have been in search of excellence for some time now," Kohli said. "And we will stay on that path no matter what happens in this game. We have no doubt in our abilities and what we can do as a side.
"As an individual player, look, we won the 2011 World Cup which was a great moment for all of us. But cricket goes on. That's the way life goes. And you have to look at failure and success that way, and You so-called great big moments have to be treated the same way as other moments.
“So yes, it is an opportunity to be enjoyed from our point of view, but it is no different for us or more important to us than the first Test that we played together as a young group of players was. The day we were trying to come up in the rankings. Yes, the mindset remains the same."