WTC final to take place between June 18 to June 22

The final of the World Test Championship will now be played between June 18 to 22 with June 23 to be the reserve day. Earlier, the final was scheduled between June 10 to 14 at the Lord's Cricket Ground.

“The WTC Final will now be played from June 18-22 and June 23 will be the reserve day. As background we pushed it back to allow for any quarantine that may be imposed, particularly given the close proximity to the end of the IPL and the original dates) so driven by quarantine,” a BCCI source told PTI.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is also expected to conclude around the same time. Though, the schedule hasn’t been finalised but it is expected to finish towards the end of May. 
















Presently, India are sitting at the top of table with 430 points (PCT 71.7) after the fighting win against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar trophy and are followed by New Zealand (420, PCT 70) and Australia (332, PCT 69.2).

India skipper Virat Kohli had earlier said, "I think Test Championship, as an ICC tournament, should be right up there. All the other tournaments, for me, start under that. This is going to be the biggest of them all. Every team wants to make it to the final at Lord's. And we are not any different. We want those points and make sure that we qualify as early as we can, and be in that frame of mind to hopefully win that.”

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Jubilant from series win in Australia, Ajinkya Rahane points out role of instinct in captaincy

When Virat Kohli had left India after the humbling loss in Adelaide, Ajinkya Rahane had his task cut out to lead a side for which the humiliation in the first test could have been too tough to handle. But, Rahane showed the signs of an astute captain who helped his side walk away from that disaster as he led the bowling attack brilliantly on the first day of the Boxing Day Test that followed the first Test and in his words, it’s all about instinct and instant reading of the game situation that decides the course. In an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times, Rahane looked back on his captaincy in the MCG Test and why he brought out many moves that looked untoward at that point of time, but in the end, turned out to be fruitful for Team India. He had introduced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin fairly early in the bowling and held back the debutant Mohammed Siraj till the lunch interval and he suggested that the decision was taken keeping in mind the moisture present on the pitch and that he backed his instinct that Ashwin will come good on the MCG pitch. "I generally back my instincts; what I feel, what I think and how I read the situation. It is for people to say whether it comes naturally to me or not, but for me, I back my instincts and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But as a player, as a captain you have to back your gut feeling," Rahane said. However, he had also prepared to take the reins from Virat Kohli after the first Test and he had started his process of leading the side in the two warm-up games preceding the Test series. “It started from the two practice games. I was thinking of how I can use certain players, the bowlers, and what type of field I can set for them. It was all about using them well and giving them confidence. Identifying who is delivering in which situations, who is reacting differently in different situations. I was just observing that. When it came to Adelaide, Virat was the captain. So, I was taking a back seat. From Melbourne onwards, I knew what I had to do. I was clear in my head on what plans I had,” Rahane added. Rahane led the Indian team which breached the fortress Gabba of the Australian team where the home side never faced defeat since 1988 and he termed the success as a special achievement. “It feels really good. It has just started to sink in that what we did in Australia was really special. I am really proud of each and every member of the team. It's not about any individual, it’s a team effort. Everyone played their part pretty well. Credit to every member of the team for this victory,” Rahne added.

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Joe Root can surpass Sachin Tendulkar's record: Geoffrey Boycott

Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott has said that current skipper Joe Root can surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most number of runs in Test cricket. The English captain has shown his class in the recently concluded two-match Test series against Sri Lanka away from home where he scored a couple of tons on the trot including a double-century. "Forget just scoring more Test runs for England than David Gower, Kevin Pietersen and myself. Joe Root has the potential to play 200 Tests and score more runs than even Sachin Tendulkar," Boycott wrote in a column for The Telegraph. Tendulkar holds the record for the most number of Test runs and has amassed 15921 runs in 200 matches for India at an average of 53.8 including 51 centuries to his name. Root on the other side has been a part of 99 matches for England and has scored 8249 runs. "Root is only 30. He has played 99 Tests and scored 8249 runs already. As long as he does not suffer serious injury there is no reason why he cannot beat Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921," Boycott added. Boycott though lauded India skipper Virat Kohli, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and former Australia skipper Steve Smith and went on to suggest that these players can also notch up more runs in the longer format. "His contemporaries, such as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, are wonderful players as well who could also score that many runs. We should enjoy Root and only judge him alongside those guys, not great names of the past because every player is a product of their environment," wrote Boycott.