Black Caps from CORONA free Kiwis land is set to play against Blues from Corona devastated India at Southampton England to decide who ICC test championship next month. Neither England nor Australia is featuring in the final. India tops the ICC test ranking and New Zealand follows them at the second position. Ironically India is the most populous country among ICC full members and New Zealand has the least population. New Zealand in the recent times looks a very formidable team in all formats. They are number one in ODI, number 2 in test and number 3 in T20 ranking. India is number 3 in ODI, number 1 and number 2 in T20 ranking. New Zealand hosted Pakistan, West Indies and Bangladesh during the CORONA pandemic and has won most matches in all formats. India rose to the top of test ranking winning two important test series against Australia in Australia and England at home. The Test Championship would witness some of the best inform players of present day cricket battling out against each other. 

New Zealand team is now in England for playing a test series against England before they meet India. Currently Indian players after suspension of IPL 2021 for CORONA impacts are regrouping in India. New Zealand players divided into two groups have flown back to England or New Zealand. 

The squads have been announced meanwhile. 

New Zealand Squad:. Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Tom Blundell, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Tom Latham, Daryll Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, Doug Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Will Youn

Probable Indian Squad: 
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness), Wriddhiman Saha (subject to fitness).

India have also named opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and seam bowlers Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Arzan Nagwaswalla as standby players.
ICC Ranking Of All Formats: 

Two evenly matched teams would fight out in what appears to cricket admirers as mouth-watering contest. Just imagine Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Mat Henry or Kyle Jamieson would be up against like of Rohit Sharma, Cheteswar Pujara and Virat Kohli. On the other hand, Sami, Bumrah, Ishant would up against Latham, Williamson and Taylor. Indian attack would be versatile with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandra Ashwin considered as the best spinning pair in test cricket. India has more depth in batting and more variety in bowling. But New Zealand is far better fielding team and can adapt better to English condition being there now playing against England. India now has such a great resource of new ball bowlers that even their net bowlers won them the test series against Australia in Australia when all first choice bowlers were injured. Players like Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj can feature in any test team at this moment. Similarly some Indian spinners like Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are good enough for playing in any first XI. New Zealand has galaxy of fast bowlers and quality batsmen. Devon Conway and Daryll Mitchell may turn out heroes. New Zealand has some bits and pieces players good enough all rounder like Henry Mitchel and Colin de Grandhomme to decide the fate of the match. The only area where New Zealand lacks is in the spinning department. But the match at Southampton would be decided in the tussle between New Zealand pace attack and Indian batsmen. The final will draw the attention of cricket. Odds would be in favor of India but New Zealand would be better prepared. But my money would be on better disciplined New Zealand. 

BDST: 1256 HRS, May 8, 2021
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