India And New Zealand Cricketers Reveal Their Favourite Venue To Play Test Cricket

A few hours before the ICC World Test Championship final at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, India and New Zealand cricketers opened up on their favourite venues. The cricketers to reveal their preferred grounds to play were Tim Southee, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Shubman Gill. India and New Zealand occupy the top two spots in the World Test Championship points table and the ICC Test rankings.

Indian team’s young sensation Shubman Gill, who has played seven Tests so far, has named Melbourne Cricket Ground as his favourite venue. Shubman Gill has struggled in his recent Tests; however, he crafted promising knocks in Melbourne against Australia. “The Test matches I have played, like all the seven Test matches, if I have to go through that, it has to be my debut in MCG. It has to be my favourite venue till now,” his reply was captured in ICC’s official Twitter handle.

Jasprit Bumrah named the Wanderers in Johannesburg as his favourite venue and revealed he would like to play a few more games there. “Johannesburg. I just played one game over there, and I would like to play more games over there,”. On the other hand, keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who scored his Test of 159 at the Sydney Cricket Ground named it as his favourite ground. “My favourite venue is SGC in Australia. I scored 159 not out when we played in 2018. That was my one of the finest memory of Test cricket,”.

Tim Southee picked the Lord’s at London as his favourite venue as the history behind the ground makes it significant to play there. “Lord’s. Just the history behind it and just turning up in Lord’s and somewhere that’s a very special place to play. Played there a few times, and it’s somewhere where we always enjoy,”. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin chose the Chidambaram Stadium; however, he also felt that MCG is a special venue to play in as he played his first away Test back in 2011.

“It has to be my home ground, Chennai. Have played all my cricket there, so one of those venues. And I think it’s quite special to play at MCG. Something about it, I can’t really put a finger and say what it is. My first away Test was also at MCG back in 2011, so could be that, but I quite enjoy playing there. It’s like a theatrical feeling,”

https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1405722435517915139?s=20

First day of the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand could be wished out:

England had already copped criticism as it’s known for its notorious and unpredictable spells of heavy rain. Nevertheless, as for the Ageas Bowl, it’s currently not raining; however, the groundsmen are doing their best to ensure the play starts at the earliest. Even if the play starts, at least three sessions have already gone down the drain.

Also Read: Win Or Lose, Cricket Won’t Stop – India Captain Virat Kohli Says WTC Final Is “Just Another Test Match”