'Why WTC Finals happens only in England?': Ex-India player questions ICC

Team India will take on Australia in the most awaited ICC World Test Championship final at the Kennington Oval, London from June 7, 2023. The Indian team reached the WTC final after New Zealand beat Sri Lanka in the first Test at Christchurch on March 13. 2023. Sri Lanka had to defeat New Zealand 2-0 in the two match series to keep their hopes alive of playing the WTC final.

Team India was also part of the World Test Championship 2021 final which was played at the Rose Bowl ground in Southampton. Interestingly, ahead of the final of the most awaited Test event former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned ICC that why the WTC final only takes place in England and also why it cannot happen on a neutral venue.

Raising a question on the WTC final Aakash said, "Why WTC Finals happen only in England? Neutral venue but it mirrors non-Asian conditions. Why does it have only one game? Why not have a Test series to determine the World Test Champion? Why not have one test each at home and one at a neutral venue? Ambitious…yes, of course no tournament lasts two years to find its winner. So, please don’t throw ‘final should be one knockout game’ in my direction. Test cricket is a very unique sport…lasts five days. Championship lasts two years. Finals can surely be a 3-match series."

Why WTC Finals happen only in England?: Aakash Chopra 

Why WTC Finals happen only in England? Neutral venue but it mirrors non-Asian conditions. Why does it have only one game? Why not have a Test series to determine the World Test Champion? Why not have one test each at home and one at a neutral venue? Ambitious…yes, of course 1/2

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 14, 2023

The Indian cricket team lost to New Zealand in the 2021 final of the World Test Championship and has now created history by qualifying for two consecutive finals of the ICC World Test Championship. . 

Team India's fortunes also favoured them as till September there were six teams who were in contention to reach the ICC World Test Championship final but England and New Zealand pretty well helped the Indian team to make it to the World Test Championship by beating Pakistan in Pakistan. 

The Indian team at last needed to win the fourth Test in Ahmedabad to make it to the final but when the Kiwis beat Sri Lanka in Christchurch the same day, the result of the final Test match didn't matter for the Indian team.