The buzz around the World Test Championship (WTC) is back once again. The global Test championship tournament, which started in 2019 has taken a new turn after the cancellation of the South Africa-Australia Test series. The three-match Test series between South Africa and Australia which was scheduled to take place in March has now been […]
The buzz around the World Test Championship (WTC) is back once again. The global Test championship tournament, which started in 2019 has taken a new turn after the cancellation of the South Africa-Australia Test series.
The three-match Test series between South Africa and Australia which was scheduled to take place in March has now been called off and pushed to a later date. That means that the World Test Championship run (2019-21 season) for both teams has come to an end.
At the moment, it is India who leads the WTC points table with a points percentage of 71.7%. New Zealand are second with 70% and have booked their place in the finals as they don’t have any other Test matches remaining. Australia and England are pretty close as well as they have their points percentage placed at 69.2% and 68.7%, respectively.
Image Courtesy: ICC
It is the cancellation of the South Africa-Australia Test series that pushed New Zealand into the final of the WTC. For the other spot, it is a three-way battle between India, England and Australia with the Aussies being the none playing member of this three-way fight.
Now, everything depends on the India-England series which will be a four-match rubber. The following are the scenarios for each team to qualify:
Also Read: Percentage of points to decide World Test Championship finalists
INDIA
India will be the hot favourites to qualify for the World Test Championship final. They face England across four Test matches at home and all they need to do is to win a couple of Test matches and not lose more than one. Thus, for India to qualify for the final, any of these results would see the go through 4-0, 3-0, 3-1, 2-0 or 2-1.
ENGLAND
England faces an uphill task in this race for the World Test Championship final. They not only need to win the four-match Test series against India but need to do it convincingly. England need results of 4-0, 3-0 or 3-1 to book a place in the final.
AUSTRALIA
First things first. Remember, Australia were docked four WTC points for slow over-rate in the second Test against India at the MCG. If those four points had not been deducted, Australia would’ve been the one to have seal a spot in the final. They would have a points percentage of 70% and with a better Runs Per Wicket Ratio (1.392) than New Zealand (1.281), the Aussies would’ve been through.
However, they now depend on the results of the India-England Test series. For Australia to qualify for the WTC final, they need the India-England Test series to be a very close affair and they will be cheering their arch-rivals England to climb the steep mountain.
For Australia to qualify, the India-England Test series needs to end in the following results:
Thus, the race for the World Test Championship Final is on. India is the firm favourites to go through but if England can pull off the unthinkable, it’ll depend on their margin of victory and Australia would hope it’s as small as possible.
