LIVE result, India vs. New Zealand, WTC Final Day 1 in Southampton: rain continues to delay the start of the game

India vs. New Zealand WTC Final Day 1 Live Cricket Score Updates: India will face New Zealand in the first final of the Test World Cup on Friday in a game that could have a huge impact on cricket around the world.

New Zealand is battle-tested thanks to a 1-0 straight win over England, which ended with a dominant eight-wicket win at Edgbaston after a draw at Lord’s on Sunday.

“Ideal preparation, with two friendly matches against England under these conditions,” said experienced New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor before the five-day game in Southampton on England’s south coast.

“Can’t think of anything better.”

The Blackcaps, who won in Birmingham despite six changes, will welcome back captain and star batsman Kane Williamson and Tempo spearhead Tim Southee.

Many cricket fans around the world would be delighted to see New Zealand, a country of roughly five million people compared to India’s 1.3 billion people, one after its excruciating Super Over loss to England in the 2019 50-over world big global title would win cup finals at Lord’s.

There is also widespread admiration for how a balanced team made the most of scarce resources.

India has not played a competitive game since the end of March and had to be content with an internal training game during the quarantine.

But they proved their strength in depth as an injured team recovered from the humiliation of being sacked for 36 on the First Test in Australia to win a four-game series 2-1 with a sensational chase in Brisbane in January – and that without inspiring captain Virat Kohli.

The talented batsman is now back in charge of a team that includes Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, as well as spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, with a tempo attack led by Jasprit Bumrah.

Rahane said the mental approach is key to India’s success.

“I think in this friendly it is important to play with freedom, to fearlessly play cricket as a team and to support each other. That will really help us instead of thinking about the result.”

It is a triumph for the International Cricket Council that the final of the test world championship, which takes place after a two-year series to determine the finalists, is taking place at all.

It seemed that the sheer complexity of a crowded global calendar was the first attempt at crowning a global test winner since the 1912 triangle tournament with England, Australia, and South Africa didn’t get off the drawing board.

The concept, first proposed in 2008, nearly failed because of broadcasters’ concerns that India, the economic power of cricket, would not make it to the finals, while many countries were far from enthusiastic about the concept.

But the competition eventually got going, albeit not through an initially complicated scoring system that reflected the varying number of tests played by different nations, in part as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cricket bosses agreed on a method of the percentage of points earned rather than the total number of points.

The game’s financial impact could well exceed the $ 1.6 million offered to winners and the $ 800,000 raised by the runner-up.

The first time India wins an ICC event it tends to have a transformative effect on cricket as a whole.

India’s triumph at the 1983 World Cup changed its attitude towards one-day international games, with these games becoming the financial engine of both its own cricket and the world game

And the T20 revolution that led to the lucrative Indian Premier League was initiated by India’s victory over arch-rival Pakistan in the first World Twenty20 in 2007 in South Africa.

At a time when many fear for the long-term future of test cricket, it could be a significant boost for the sport’s oldest international format if India wins the world championship.

With inputs from AFP