New Zealand won its first-ever ICC trophy today and that too the inaugural trophy of the prime format of Cricket, the “World Test Championship”. New Zealand brilliantly beat the 2nd ranked Test team India by 8 wickets in a rain-affected final under the leadership of Kane Williamson.
The BlackCaps’ journey has been a rollercoaster ride since they started playing cricket. New Zealand played its first test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, but they had to wait until 1956, more than 26 years, for its first Test victory, against the West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland.
New Zealand has struggled a lot with its luck. New Zealand were the semi-finalists in the Cricket World Cups of 1992, 1999, and 2011. The team struggled horribly in the 2000s. Brendon McCullum, the former captain and the current coach of the BlackCaps, took the charge of New Zealand Cricket in 2012 and transformed it into a world-class team with his commitment and leadership skills. The team then performed magnificently and made it into the finals of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. The bad luck of the team played a role again, and New Zealand lost it.
The Kiwis did not settle and continued performing spectacularly in the cricketing world and yet again made it to the finals of Cricket World Cup 2019 after beating India in a two-day rain-affected semi-final under the charge of the current captain, Kane Williamson. They met the hosts England in the final and fought to win the title, but the match ended up a tie resulting in a super-over. The Bad-Luck played its part and the Super-Over got into a tie again, and the officials announced England as the winner on the basis of the boundary count. The whole cricketing world felt sad about the loss of the Kiwis.
The BlackCaps led by Kane Williamson again with their sheer commitment continued to perform marvelously and again made it to the final of the inaugural edition of the “World Test Championship”. The opponent was team India, the 2nd ranked test team. The predicted forecast was rainy on almost every day of the test match, which made people think that the bad luck of New Zealand prevailed again. The final seemed to be a draw, but the team remained confident and committed. The Kiwis performed splendidly and did not let their bad luck affect them. Hence, they outclassed India in every aspect of the game to win the final of the Championship to become the first-ever “World Test Champions”.
