World Test Championship final: New Zealand and India frustrated by rain

Rain wiped out the entire first day of the men’s World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in Southampton.

Heavy rain fell throughout Friday, preventing a ball being bowled, and play was abandoned at 14:48 BST.

The weather is forecast to improve over the weekend with play set to begin at 10:30 on Saturday.

A reserve, sixth day is in place for the showpiece final to allow for play lost to bad weather to be made up.

Still, it was a bleak first day of a historic match which aims to crown a Test world champion for the first time in cricket’s history.

The final has been two years in the making with India and New Zealand having qualified for the one-off match by finishing the nine-team table in first and second respectively.

If the match is drawn the sides will be joint winners.

India named their side on Thursday but could change it before the toss, which will now take place before play on Saturday.

India XI: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Will Young.

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