Virat Kohli will lead his team in the final of the World Test Championship against New Zealand tomorrow. Despite all the hype around the game he isn’t too much bothered about it and says it is not the biggest game of his career and India will play the one-off Test like another game.
India and New Zealand will take on against each other in the historical WTC Final 2021 in Southampton from Friday. Both teams played remarkable cricket to reach this far and will give their everything to go all the way and win the final.
However, Kohli turns down the hype surrounding the final as he said it is not the biggest game for him.
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“No (is it the biggest match for you?). For me, this is just a Test match that has to be played. I think these things are very important from the outside because there is so much importance to other extra stuff attached to one game and it sort of becomes do and die,” Kohli said on the eve of the final.
“For us, as a team, we have been on a quest for excellence for a while now and we are going to continue to be on that path regardless of what happens in this game. We totally understand who we are as a team and the kind of cricket we have played so we have no doubts whatsoever about our ability.”
Kohli feels his team won’t be bothered by what happens in the final and will play to achieve greatness regardless. He feels India came to England to play six Test matches and the game against New Zealand is just another game.
“We didn’t come here for the one-off Test. We are here to play 6 Tests till the England summer ends. The first of the 6 Tests begins tomorrow. It’s not like if we win the Test, we will look to change the plans or change our way of playing. Our players know their strengths very well and they know how to use it over the next 6 Tests,” he added.
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“We think very differently from what others on the outside perceive. We have created a process to strive for excellence and we are heading towards that. This is why people like Rohit, Shubman and Pant went for an attacking game in Australia. Many thought we could have gone for the draw but our thinking is different. This is the divide in thinking I am talking about.”
Kohli mentioned winning the World Cup 2011 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy was a significant moment in his career but he has learnt to treat success and failure in the same way.
“As an individual player, we won the 2011 World Cup which is a great moment for all of us. But cricket goes on, just the way life goes on. You have to treat failures and success the same way. You have to treat the outstandingly big moments pretty similar to the other moments as well. You can’t pick and choose and prioritize something,” Kohli mentioned.
“It’s an occasion that has to be enjoyed but it’s not different or not more important for us than the first Test match we played all together as a young group of players. Mindset remains the same.”
