Match officials On 8 June 2021, the ICC announced the match officials for the final. •
On-field umpires:
Michael Gough (Eng) and
Richard Illingworth (Eng) •
Third umpire:
Richard Kettleborough (Eng) •
Reserve umpire:
Alex Wharf (Eng) •
Match referee:
Chris Broad (Eng)
Match details and scorecard Summary Day 1 The first day of play was scheduled to take place on Friday 18 June 2021. As had been forecast, there was heavy rain throughout the day which
prevented any play from taking place. The rain stopped in the afternoon, but it had caused the outfield to become waterlogged and the umpires decided to cancel the day's play at 3pm
BST. The loss of six hours ensured that the game would continue to the sixth and reserve day on Wednesday 23 June.
Day 2 The weather was dry at the start of the second day, and with no rain forecast, play began on time at 10:30am. New Zealand won the
toss and elected to
field first, putting India in to
bat. Captain
Kane Williamson said that his decision was due to the cool weather, although he said that he expected a consistent wicket throughout the game. India's opening batsmen,
Rohit Sharma and
Shubman Gill, began the match strongly by recording an opening
partnership of 62 runs. Despite favourable conditions New Zealand's
fast bowlers Tim Southee and
Trent Boult were unable to bowl consistently.
Kyle Jamieson started bowling before lunch and took the first wicket of the match, Rohit Sharma
edging a ball to third
slip where it was
caught by Southee. Gill then fell too, caught off the bowling of
Neil Wagner, to leave India at 69 for two at lunch, with
Cheteshwar Pujara and Indian captain
Virat Kohli the two batsmen. bowling to
Cheteshwar Pujara in the inaugural WTC Final Pujara and Kohli batted cautiously early in their partnership, both before and after lunch, with Pujara taking 50 minutes and 35 balls to score his first run. He then scored successive
fours but was dismissed after 16 more runless balls,
leg before wicket (lbw) to Boult. Kohli and Rahane remained as the not out batsmen overnight, on 44 and 29 runs respectively.
Day 3 The third day was another day of rain showers, and play was delayed slightly, beginning at 11am. Kohli fell in the third over of the day, lbw to Jamieson without adding to his overnight score of 44.
Rishabh Pant was dismissed a few overs later, caught by
Tom Latham at slip off Jamieson's bowling on only 4 runs. Rahane and new batsman
Ravindra Jadeja withstood the New Zealand bowling for a while after this, with Rahane advancing his score to 49. He was then dismissed by Wagner, playing a
hook shot which was caught at mid wicket. Former Indian player
V. V. S. Laxman attributed the wicket to Williamson's captaincy, noting that the captain had set the field differently in successive balls and given Wagner advice regarding Rahane's reputation for being a "compulsive pull shot or hook shot player".
Ravichandran Ashwin came to the crease and scored quickly, recording 22 runs from 27 balls and taking India past 200. He lost his wicket shortly afterwards, edging a catch to slip off the bowling of Southee. India were 211 for seven at lunch. In the third over after lunch, Jamieson took two wickets in two balls, dismissing Ishant Sharma with a ball which was caught at slip, followed by an
inswinger which dismissed
Jasprit Bumrah for a
duck. This gave Jamieson the opportunity to take a
hat-trick, but he was unsuccessful as the next ball was hit by
Mohammed Shami for four. Nonetheless, Jamieson finished with
bowling figures of 5 for 31 from 22 overs, with 12 maiden overs, a performance described by
The Guardian's Tanya Aldred as "astonishing". Boult dismissed Jadeja for 15 in the first ball of the next over, leaving India all out for 217, a score which Aldred considered "slightly short of par". Williamson and
Ross Taylor were the New Zealand batsmen at the close of play.
Day 4 The fourth day of the Test was rained out and no play was possible. New Zealand remained at 101 for the loss of two wickets. Williamson and new batsman
Colin de Grandhomme worked to stabilise the New Zealand innings after lunch, advancing the score to 152 runs by the 80th over when India took the new ball. Shami got the first breakthrough of the afternoon session by dismissing De Grandhomme for 13 runs, lbw off a
good length delivery. The Indian fast bowlers attempted to keep the pressure on, but New Zealand's
tailenders were able to add an additional 82 runs before the team were all out for 249. Captain Williamson fell just short of a fifty, scoring 49 runs before being caught at second slip by Kohli off the bowling of Sharma. India started their second innings trailing New Zealand by 32 runs with Rohit Sharma and Gill once again opening the innings. Gill was the first to fall, to Southee, being dismissed lbw for a score of 8 runs with the team at 24 for one, and Rohit Sharma also fell lbw to Southee. India were 64 for two, leading by 32 runs, when play was called off for the day.
Day 6 (Reserve Day) The sixth day of the Test was the official reserve day, allocated for weather related delays. India started the day on their overnight score of 64 for the loss of two wickets, with captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease. The pair only managed to add seven runs before Kohli was out caught behind by the wicket-keeper Watling off the bowling of Jamieson. Jamieson followed it up with the wicket of Pujara in his next over, caught at first slip, leaving India at 72 for four. Rahane was the next batsman out, caught behind by Watling off the bowling of Boult. Pant and Jadeja took the team to lunch at 98 runs for five. The post-lunch session saw Jadeja falling to medium-pacer Wagner with Watling securing a catch off a nick on the offside. Pant, the last recognised batsman, attempted to add runs quickly, but he then fell to Boult with Nicholls running in from point and catching the ball over his shoulders. Pant had scored 41, the highest score amongst the Indian batsman, and the team was at 157 for seven at that stage. This left the Indian tailenders batting, and they advanced the score to 170 before the team were all out. New Zealand started off with openers Latham and Conway, chasing a target of 139. The openers scored 33 runs but both were then dismissed by
spinner Ashwin, leaving New Zealand at 44 for two.
The Guardian's Adam Collins noted that New Zealand had appeared to be heading for an easy victory, but the second wicket prompted him to write "game very much on" in his commentary. Williamson was joined by Taylor, and India then bowled four maiden overs in a row with the score on 46 for two, with New Zealand still needing 93 more runs to win from 31 overs. They began to score more freely again from the 23rd over, however, ;India 1st innings Fall of wickets: 1-62 (Rohit, 20.1 ov), 2-63 (Gill, 24.3 ov), 3-88 (Pujara, 40.2 ov), 4-149 (Kohli, 67.4 ov), 5-156 (Pant, 73.4 ov), 6-182 (Rahane, 78.4 ov), 7-205 (Ashwin, 85.5 ov), 8-213 (Ishant, 91.4 ov), 9-213 (Bumrah, 91.5 ov), 10-217 (Jadeja, 92.1 ov) ;New Zealand 1st innings Fall of wickets: 1-70 (Latham, 34.2 ov), 2-101 (Conway, 48.4 ov), 3-117 (Taylor, 63.1 ov), 4-134 (Nicholls, 69.3 ov), 5-135 (Watling, 70.2 ov), 6-162 (de Grandhomme, 82.1 ov), 7-192 (Jamieson, 86.6 ov), 8-221 (Williamson, 93.6 ov), 9-234 (Wagner, 96.3 ov), 10-249 (Southee, 99.2 ov) ;India 2nd innings Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Gill, 10.4 ov), 2-51 (Rohit, 26.5 ov), 3-71 (Kohli, 35.5 ov), 4-72 (Pujara, 37.3 ov), 5-109 (Rahane, 49.6 ov), 6-142 (Jadeja, 62.5 ov), 7-156 (Pant, 69.2 ov), 8-156 (Ashwin, 69.4 ov), 9-170 (Shami, 72.2 ov), 10-170 (Bumrah, 72.6 ov) ;New Zealand 2nd innings Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Latham, 13.3 ov), 2-44 (Conway, 17.2 ov) ==Aftermath==