If the weather is clear, then India will be favourites in WTC Final – Monty Panesar

 

Former England spinner Monty Panesar feels the weather will play a crucial role in the result of the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand. The former left-arm orthodox spinner believes India could struggle if the conditions are overcast as New Zealand batsmen can play better in such conditions.

However, Panesar reckons India will be favourites to win the World Test Championship final if the weather stays clear. Meanwhile, New Zealand will play two Test matches against England, which will be an ideal way for them to prepare for the WTC final. The Kiwis are already in England and they will know the conditions better than India.

“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 plays the moving ball better than Indian batsmen.

“So, 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 told PTI over the phone from the UK.

“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.”

On the other hand, Monty feels the two Test matches between England and New Zealand will be crucial. The former spinner feels if England can beat the Kane Williamson-led team, then the Kiwis will be on the backfoot against India in the WTC final.

“If New Zealand do well in the next two Test matches, then the momentum is going to favour them against India. But if England can beat them, suddenly they’re going to be low on confidence and it is a good time for India to come,” he said.

Panesar feels if the WTC was to start in a week’s time then he will pick India as favorites as they have played some hard cricket.

“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.