WTC Final, India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma will struggle against swinging ball, says Scott Styris

New Zealand's cricketer-turned-commentator Scott Styris has insisted that India's top-order batsman Rohit Sharma will struggle against the swinging ball against New Zealand in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

India and New Zealand are set to lock horns in the maiden WTC final, starting June 18, at the Rose Bowl stadium.

Earlier, Southampton's groundsman Simon Lee had mentioned that the pitch will have a lot to offer the fast bowlers as it'll be fast and bouncy.

"It is pitch dependent... I think I can't stress that enough. I think if the ball is moving around then Rohit will have his struggles. Rohit doesn't really move his feet a lot early in his innings. If that's the case, then the swinging ball could be a problem for him," Styris said during Star Sports' show Game Plan.

Apart from the Kiwis' usual bowlers like Trent Boult and Tim Southee, Styris believes his country has an advantage in Neil Wagner, who is an extra option with the ability to be aggressive and genuine wicket-taker.

"There is no secret to New Zealand's fast bowling plan if you like and that is Southee, Boult and either Jamieson or de Grandhomme will be the third seamer and they bowled till about the 22nd to 28th over with a new ball. And then Neil Wagner comes into the equation. So, when you talk about Wagner, it's his ability to be aggressive and be a genuine wicket-taking option for somebody like (Virat) Kohli in those middle overs till the new ball comes around," the former New Zealand all-rounder further added.

Meanwhile, since Team India will hardly have any time to train intensively ahead of the WTC final, former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel has said Indian skipper Virat Kohli must draw inspiration from his tour of England in 2018, where he had ended the top scorer of the five-match Test series with 583 runs, including two centuries.

"I think probably he will have to give himself a bit of time and try to think what he did in 2018 -- where he got a number of hundreds. So, probably he is better equipped than he was in 2014, but there will be challenges and there will be challenges of a variety of fast bowlers. Reason being -- it is not a one-dimensional fast bowling attack," Patel was quoted as saying in a recent interview.

WTC final's prize money

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday that the winning team will win a whopping USD 1.6 million along with the Test Championship mace. In the 2019-21 WTC, India played six series and won 12 matches while New Zealand played five series and won seven matches. Australia finished at the 3rd spot on the WTC table.

"The losing team will get $ 800,000 for finishing second in the nine-team competition, which was played over a near two-year cycle, adding context to Test cricket and to crown the first official world champions in the longest format of the game," the ICC wrote in their official release.

"The prize money for the team finishing third in the ICC World Test Championship Standings Powered by MRF Tyres is $ 450,000. The team fourth on the table will be awarded $ 350,000, the one that finishes fifth gets $ 200,000 while the remaining four teams will get $ 100,000 each," ICC added in the release.

Kane Williamson's New Zealand are also coming on the back of a brilliant 1-0 Test series win over England, their first victory on the English soil in the whites since 1999. Meanwhile, India's last Test series was against England at home earlier this year, which the hosts had won 3-1.