The World Test Championship, which began in August 2019, will see the final on June 18th this year. The finalists, India and New Zealand, will battle it out for the title in the inaugural WTC edition at Southampton.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Friday, 28th May, that a reserve day after the five days of the final Test will be kept if time lost cannot be recovered with usual methods of catching up. This includes early starts and extra time allotments at the end of the day.

However, reserve day will only be used if absolutely necessary. The match referee will keep the two captains informed about the lost time and will take a call on using the reserve day only during the last hour of Day 5 of the Test. Also, the extra day will not be used if there is no positive outcome after a full five days of the play.

The Grand Finale will also see the relatively newly implemented rules come into play. This includes the TV umpires checking for short-runs and the fielding captain or the batsman in question being allowed to confirm whether there was a genuine attempt at the ball before opting for a review.

Further, there is an amendment to the DRS appeal for LBW. Earlier, if the ball was hitting the bails according to ball tracking, it would be declared an umpire's call. The height for the same has been increased. Further, Grade 1 Duke balls will be used for the big final.

Initially, the game was supposed to happen at the iconic Lords’. However, given Southampton’s great on-site facilities, it became a frontrunner to host the final. It was officially declared as the venue for the important game in March this year.

From the Mumbai Indians squad, Rohit Sharma will be a part of the team as an opener and Jasprit Bumrah will lead the Indian pace attack against New Zealand’s Trent Boult here in less than a month.