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The sun was out in its full glory during the WTC final when Ross Taylor flicked a length ball over square leg. Virat Kohli flung his head back, Kane Williamson smiled and smacked Taylor on the gloves. The rest of the New Zealand team assembled and lost their minds in the dressing room.
Two years after their disappointment in the ODI World Cup final, New Zealand were crowned WTC champions.
It was a complete performance by the number 1 Test side. India were not bad, they were just not good enough in moments where it mattered the most. The ICC trophies continue to slip away from Virat Kohli's side and this WTC final loss will hurt the side a lot more.
However, there were Indian players who shone in this WTC final and kept wresting the momentum back in their favor.
In this article, we take a look at the top 3 Indian performers at the WTC final:
Rohit Sharma
When India were asked to bat first under cloudy skies and on a pitch that looked grey, the pressure was on for the Indian openers. Rohit Sharma rules the game in home conditions, but has struggled in overseas conditions.
Rohit Sharma was up against Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner - the conditions were ripe for some seam and swing bowling. However, Rohit showed a lot of promise in the WTC final. He showed great discipline outside the off stump.
He reached the 30s in both innings, but could not kick on, but gave enough glimpse that he can be successful in these conditions.
Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami was the best Indian bowler on display. Before the first innings started, only Waqar Younis was the only Asian fast bowler to have a better strike rate (40.8) than him (49.7) after 50 Tests.
He has been brilliant in England, but the results have not come as far as wickets are concerned. However, he changed all this in this WTC final.
As per ESPNCricinfo, Shami pitched 15 deliveries fuller and this resulted in 15 runs, but as a result of this length, he picked up two wickets. At the same time, when he landed 37 balls on a length, he was taken for 16 runs and took a wicket.
In the first innings he picked up the wickets of Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Colin de Grandhomme and Kyle Jamieson. His seam presentation was superb and he pushed his lengths further up and this gave him great results. This bodes well for India as the England series awaits.
He looked very dangerous even in the second innings but could not prize out wickets, but Shami was simply superb in the WTC final.
Ravichandran Ashwin
India went in with two spinners as opposed to New Zealand, who picked four frontline seamers. However, Ashwin has been a man in form and he continued to trouble the batsmen, especially the left-handers. He picked up the wicket of Tom Latham in both innings and then the wickets of Neil Wagner and Devon Conway.
He continued to persist and ask plenty of questions and with his batting looking better by the day, he could be a real asset for India for the series against England.
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