India will lock horns with New Zealand from June 18 in the inaugural World Test Championships (WTC) final in Southampton. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said he is excited to face Virat & Co. in the WTC final in June as the 30-year-old batting great considers matches against heavyweights Indian cricket team to be a “fantastic challenge”.
Most of the New Zealand players, taking part in the two-match test series against England, have reached the United Kingdom. The Test series between England and New Zealand starts from June 2 before the Ind vs NZ WTC final.
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Indian cricket team is expected to land in the UK in first week of June after completing their quarantine in Mumbai.
“When we play against India, it has always been a fantastic challenge and so it is really exciting to be playing against them,” Williamson said in a video posted by the ICC on its Twitter handle.
“It’s really, really exciting to be involved in the final, obviously to win it would be that much better,” said Williamson.
Talking about how the World Test Championship (WTC) progressed, the Kiwi skipper said, “We saw the contests in the WTC has brought real excitement.
“… the games were really tight such as in the India-Australia series and our series against Pakistan as well where you had to really fight hard to get the results, which is really great.”
Team India's young Test batsman Hanuma Vihari, who is currently playing county cricket in England, said it would be a great to represent his national squad in the WTC final.
“I am excited but I would want to be in that moment and not to get too much carried away by the importance of the situation,” he said.
“But as a sportsman, to play for India in the final of inaugural World Test Championships is always a great feeling,” said the 27-year-old batsman.