India to play World Test Championship Final at Southampton, Not at Lord’s: Sourav Ganguly

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed on Monday that the ICC World Test Championship Final between India and New Zealand will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton instead of Lord’s.

The match will be played from June 18-22. There were reports earlier that the venue had been shifted from the iconic Lord’s to a different one. Now Ganguly confirmed the same and mentioned the new venue as well. ICC, though, haven’t given any official confirmation on the matter yet.

“I’m looking forward to attending the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in Southampton,” Ganguly said on India Today.

“Yeah, it is in Southampton. It was decided a long time ago. Due to COVID and they [in Southampton] have the hotel absolutely close. When England resumed play after COVID, they had a lot of matches in Southampton due to the same reason.”

India and New Zealand qualified for the final after finishing first and second in the ICC World Test Championship Table respectively. The things that worked in favour of the Ageas Bowl as the venue, as confirmed by Ganguly, was the presence of a five-star hotel attached to the stadium and plenty of logistical and operational conveniences that would help them in complying with the bio-bubble protocols.

Southampton hosted matches during West Indies and Pakistan’s tour to England in the midst of the pandemic last year.

Ganguly also heaped praise on the players for the amount of mental strength they have shown given they spent around six months in bio-secure environments starting from IPL 2020. He also said that he will be rooting for India to win the Championship and congratulated the entire Indian team.

When asked whether the World Test Championship holds equal value as that of a World Cup, Ganguly said, “Every trophy has its own value. The 50-over World Cup is an amazing spectacle. It (WTC) was a bit complicated this time because of the pandemic. We will see when every team has played an equal number of games.”

“Massive achievements given what the players have gone through. Right from the IPL in September to early March and they are not finished yet. A good 6 months in bio-bubbles and what they have achieved is fantastic,” Ganguly said.

“Looking forward to the WTC final and I hope we get past New Zealand. Congratulate Rahane, Kohli, everyone involved. The way Pant won India the Brisbane game was excellent,” he added.