India vs New Zealand: Virat Kohli Defends Playing XI Despite Defeat In WTC Final | Cricket News

India captain Virat Kohli was adamant that their decision to stick to playing three pacers in the World Test Championship final was the correct one as they fielded their “best combination” in the defeat against New Zealand. India had announced their side a day before the final was supposed to start, but rain washed out Day 1, and there were questions on whether India should have played with another fast bowler, given the conditions would provide more assistance to them.

“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 after the match in Southampton.

He also congratulated New Zealand for forcing a result in a match marred by rain.

“Big congratulations to Kane (Williamson) and the whole team. They showed great consistency and heart to pull out a result in just over three days, sticking to their processes to put us under pressure. They deserved the win,” he said.

Kohli said that they never got any momentum on the Day 2 of the Test, which was effectively the first day, as rain and bad light kept interrupting play.

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“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 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 said.

New Zealand beat India by eight wickets in the first ever World Test Championship final.