WTC final: BJ Watling takes a trip down the memory lane before clash against India

India and New Zealand are moments away from starting the final battle to stake their claim on the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship final as the contest gets underway the Ageas Bowl, Southampton.

Ahead of the same, New Zealand’s wicketkeeper-batter BJ Watling, who will be playing his last game for the Blackcaps, walked down the memory lane, reminiscing his old Instagram posts.

Watling is not the only cricketer to take part in the fun exercise as Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant did the same in a recent video released by the ICC. Interestingly, Indian pacer Bumrah was interviewed by no one else but her wife Sanjana Ganesan, who is a part of the ICC’s digital broadcast team for the marquee clash.

We dived into @B_Jwatling's Instagram account and asked him to reveal the story behind some memorable posts 🖼#INDvNZ | #WTC21 Final pic.twitter.com/cm857AHXSl

— ICC (@ICC) June 18, 2021

Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli set to take on each other 

The WTC cycle, running since August 2019, is set to come to an end with this final before the second cycle gets underway. Ahead of the same, Virat Kohli in a media interaction said, “Me and Kane have become friends over the last few years playing against each other quite a bit and we do have a conversation off the field as well.”

“When you step across that line you are professionals at the end of the day. You wanna get him out as early as possible as he is the best batsman in the New Zealand team and they would wanna do the same with us.

“I think the camaraderie and understanding, the bonding we have mostly happened off the field. On the field it’s very professional as I said we are looking at them as opponents whom we wanna beat in this Test match,” he added.

Echoing the same sentiments, the New Zealand skipper Williamson said, “We have a history of playing against each other and I know him (Virat) really well so it’s an exciting occasion for both teams.”

New Zealand and India are currently the No. 1 and 2 ranked teams in the ICC Tests rankings, and have the top spot, ICC mace and USD 1.6 million at stake.