World Test Championship final

17 Jun 2021

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is recovering well from his elbow injury and should be fit to take the field in time for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final against Team India on Friday.

Williamson led New Zealand to a draw in the Lord's Test against England but missed the second game at Edgbaston due to the left elbow issue, which has been troubling him for months now.

Tom Latham led New Zealand to a historic 1-0 series win in Williamson's absence after the visitor's beat England by 8 wickets inside 4 days in Birmingham earlier this week.

But the 30-year-old confirmed on Thursday that every player in the New Zealand squad is fit and available for the WTC Final, which starts in less than 25 hours at the Ageas Bowl.

"Everybody is fit in the squad. My elbow has improved thanks to the injection a few days back. We haven't finalised the squad yet, we will do that a little later," Williamson told reporters on the eve of the summit clash in Southampton.

Williamson, who's team recently dethroned India from top of the ICC Test Rankings after the England series win, also spoke about the challenges that the Black Caps are looking forward to face against Virat Kohli's India.

"The rankings keep changing but we know the challenge is very, very strong against this Indian team.

"There are a number of areas of competition -- we know how strong the seam bowling attack is, the spinners and the batting is world class. Similar for us too, it is exciting to be involved in this WTC final," Williamson said.

Williamson also sounded fine with the one-match WTC final even though cricket pundits and fans wanted to see a best-of-three clash between New Zealand and India.

"Most Test series are more than one (match). Both teams at a neutral venue. It is exciting. It is a one-off," Williamson said.

New Zealand are in superb form in red-ball cricket and haven't lost a single Test since January 2020. Their unbeaten streak also includes the 2-0 series win against India when Kohli's team toured New Zealand in February 2020.