India and New Zealand will contest the final of the World Test Championship which gets under way at Southampton on Friday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting.
This is one off contest at neutral Southampton and it could be important to note that there is a reserve day which would come into play but only if time is lost in the first 5 days and not made up.
Let's begin with the squads.
India - Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed. Shami, Mohammed. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, KL Rahul
New Zealand - Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Will Young
Recent Form
India
India's most recent test series came at home to England in February / March this year. They lost the first test of a 4 match series but won the next 3 for a 3-1 series win. In December 2020 they were in Australia for another 4 match series, again they lost the first contest but hit back to win 2 and draw 1 of the next 3 for a 2-1 series win.
New Zealand
New Zealand have an advantage in that they have just completed a 2 match series against England, at Lords and Edgbaston. Furthermore they won the series 1-0, on top in drawing the first contest and then despite making a number of changes they won the second match by all of 8 wickets.
Prior to that over Christmas and New Year they won both tests at home to Pakistan by wide margins. They also beat West Indies and India 2-0 in home series' last year.
Recent Head to Head
The most recent series between these sides came in New Zealand in February 2020 and the Black Caps were comfortable winners of both matches by margins of 10 wickets and then 7 wickets.
Overall the teams have met in 59 test matches with India winning 21 to New Zealand's 12 and 26 have been drawn.
The Venue Rose Bowl, Southampton
The Rose Bowl has staged 6 test matches between 2011 and 2020 and 3 produced a positive result and the other 3 were drawn
India have played 2 test matches at this venue and they lost on both occasions, to England in 2014 by 266 runs and to England in 2018 by 60 runs.
New Zealand have never played a test match at this venue.
In August 2020 two matches between England and Pakistan finished in a draw with bad weather responsible for the result in the first of those games.
The Betting
India are currently trading at around 1.55/1 to win the game with the draw a 5/2 chance and New Zealand can be backed at around 1.65/1
As far as the top 1st innings bat markets are concerned Virat Kohli is 5/2 for India and Kane Williamson is 9/4 for New Zealand.
Jasprit Bumrah is 3/1 favourite to be India's leading wicket taker in the first innings and Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee are all 11/4 to do likewise for New Zealand
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
The match result market has an open look to it and this should be a really good contest which looks tricky to call. However my slight preference is for NZ, mainly down to the fact they have played 2 tests in English conditions as a major part of their preparations.
At the prices I like Tom Latham to top score for New Zealand in the first innings. Latham had a quiet series against England but it wouldn't surprise me if he was to score big here and at the prices he makes more appeal than his skipper.
In the belief that the pitch will have much more pace and bounce than spin, Jasprit Bumrah gets the vote to be top Indian wicket taker in the first innings.
Bets: New Zealand to win at 1.65/1
1st Innings Top NZ Bat To Latham at 4/1
Top India 1st innings bowler Jasprit Bumrah at 3/1
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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