‘India have a score to settle in WTC final’

Mumbai: Even as the IPL is on, anticipation is already building around the ICC World Test Championship final between India and Australia, which will be played from June 7-11 at The Oval. Former West Indies captain-turned commentator Daren Ganga feels that India will have an edge in the contest, as they will be driven by the fact that they lost to New Zealand in the 2021 WTC final at Southampton.“I will give India the nod, they have a score to settle. They have been in this situation before. There is a deep desire (in India) to conquer this WTC final, (which) they could not do the last time,” Ganga said. Explaining why he felt that India were slight favourites going into the marquee clash, Ganga, who played 48 Tests and 35 ODIs, said that felt that Australia’s batting was “an area of concern.”“For Australia, it’s about playing against an Indian side that’s going to use their strength — spin. That’s something that they would use to penetrate Australia. Their batting is an area of concern, there’s sort of reluctance around David Warner and his thoughts of leaving red ball cricket. That to me, is not a strong position for a side walking into the WTC final. Australia’s bad days in cricket are not very far from their very good days, they are a very consistent side,” he said.