.jpg)
|| India Correspondent ||
Team India will face England in the third Test at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad which will be a Day-Night affair, starting February 24. Since the Test series is a part of the World Test Championship (WTC), both teams will keep the WTC final in mind.
It is also noteworthy that, New Zealand have already qualified for the inaugural tournament after Australia cancelled the tour of South Africa. And, both India and England have the chance to make it to the final at Lord's in June. However, before the third Test, former India batsman Gautam Gambhir has said that the host should only focus on the pink-ball Test instead of thinking about the final of the World Test Championship.
The four-match Test series between India and England currently stands at 1-1. If India wins the ongoing Test series by a margin of 2-1, then they would qualify for the finals of the tournament. India won by a huge margin of 317 runs against England in the second Test.
"Every Test match is important, one should not keep on thinking about the World Test Championship. The team should focus on this pink-ball game. I think it would be a good Test match," Gambhir said to ANI.
On the other hand, India opener Rohit Sharma said that the final of the tournament is far away, and they are just focusing on following the right process as well.
"To be honest, when we are playing the game, the focus is not on the outside. We want to qualify for the WTC finals, but we still to do a lot of things right to be there. We will be very happy to qualify for the WTC finals, but there are little steps that we need to take before we reach the finals. It is too far ahead still, we have got two Tests to play before that, we will see what happens after that," said Rohit during a virtual press conference.
"You just have to focus on the process, you do not need to think too far ahead. If you try to stay in present, I do not think you will feel any pressure. It is a five-day game, so the focus and pressure changes every day. It is important to be in the moment and think about what you need to do on the given day to get the best out of your skillset. When you do those little things right, it adds up and you achieve what you always wanted to achieve as a team," he again shared.