The highly anticipated World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and New Zealand is just a few days away and all eyes are set on players from both camps ahead of the summit clash in Southampton.
India’s journey to the WTC final involved overseas tours to West Indies, New Zealand and Australia and three home series’ against South Africa, Bangladesh and England. The only series loss during this period came against New Zealand.
Meanwhile, New Zealand played five series during the time and began with tours to Sri Lanka and Australia. They endured a rough start that saw them draw against Sri Lanka and lose to Australia. However, the Kiwis fought back at home with successive wins over India, West Indies and Pakistan.
Ahead of the WTC final, we take a look at the best performers for both the finalists over the past three years.
Ajinkya Rahane is the most successful Indian batsman with 1,095 runs to his name, including three hundreds and six fifties with a best of 115. India won the historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy under his captaincy and he’s followed by Rohit Sharma, who amassed 1,030 runs with four hundreds, two fifties and a best of 212.
For New Zealand, Kane Williamson was unsurprisingly the standout performer with the bat having scored 817 runs with three hundreds and a fifty.
|
Player |
Matches |
Runs |
Average |
Highest |
|
Marnus Labuschagne |
13 |
1675 |
72.82 |
215 |
|
Joe Root |
20 |
1660 |
47.42 |
228 |
|
Steve Smith |
13 |
1341 |
63.85 |
211 |
|
Ben Stokes |
17 |
1334 |
46.00 |
176 |
|
Ajinkya Rahane |
17 |
1095 |
43.80 |
115 |
On the bowling front for India, Ravichandran Ashwin has scalped 67 wickets with four five-wicket hauls in 13 matches. He is far ahead of the next best Indian bowlers Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami who have 36 wickets each.
Tim Southee has been the most successful bowler for the Kiwis with 51 wickets in 10 matches and three five-wicket hauls to his name. Kyle Jamieson follows him next on the list with 36 wickets.
|
Player |
Matches |
Wickets |
BBM |
Average |
|
Pat Cummins |
14 |
70 |
7/69 |
21.02 |
|
Stuart Broad |
17 |
69 |
10/67 |
20.08 |
|
R Ashwin |
13 |
67 |
9/207 |
20.88 |
|
Nathan Lyon |
14 |
56 |
10/118 |
31.37 |
|
Tim Southee |
10 |
51 |
9/110 |
20.66 |
Interestingly, Rishabh Pant is ranked fifth among wicket-keepers for most dismissals. BJ Watling, who is just above Pant in the table and is set to retire after the WTC final, will also be hoping to sign off in style as he prepares to bid adieu following the summit clash.
|
Player |
Matches |
Dismissals |
|
Tim Paine |
14 |
65 |
|
Jos Buttler |
18 |
50 |
|
Quinton de Kock |
12 |
46 |
|
BJ Watling |
10 |
43 |
|
Rishabh Pant |
11 |
40 |
*All the records are a part of the ICC World Test Championship duration from 2019-2021
Featured photo : Sajjad Hussain
