Explained: How India can still qualify for World Test Championship final – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

After losing in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final to New Zealand in 2021, India had their eyes set on the final of the second edition which is scheduled to take place in 2023.

With the summit clash in mind, India made a strong start to the 2021-23 cycle with a 2-1 lead in the four Test matches that were played in England in August-September 2021. The final match of the five-match series was rescheduled to 2022 due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp. India later in 2021 beat defending champions New Zealand 1-0 in a two-match Test series at home and were placed third in the table.

However, they suffered a setback early in the year as they lost 1-2 in South Africa before recovering to beat Sri Lanka 2-0 at home. The recent defeat in the rescheduled fifth Test against England had India slip to fourth place in the WTC table. The top two teams from the table qualify for the final at the end of the cycle.

England collected 12 points after the victory at Edgbaston while India were docked two points for maintaining a slow over-rate in the fourth innings.

We take a look at how India can still qualify for the WTC final with the cycle nearing its end.

WTC standings

Australia (1st), South Africa (2nd) and Pakistan (3rd) are ahead of India in the table.

Here’s the updated WTC table:

Credit: Screenshot from ICC website.

While India boast more points than South Africa and Pakistan having played more matches, they are behind on the qualifying metric of the percentage of available points collected. Australia top the standings having collected 77.78% of the available points while South Africa and Pakistan are ahead of India with 71.43 and 52.38 percentage points respectively. India are fourth with 52.08 percentage points.

How can India qualify for WTC 2023 final?

India still have six Tests to play in the ongoing 2021-23 cycle. They are still to travel to Bangladesh for a two-match series and host Australia for a four-match series.

To have any chance of reaching the final, India should try to win all of their next six matches. By winning these matches, India can gain 72 points and lift their percentage points to 68.05 which still may not be enough given the lead Australia, South Africa and Pakistan have over them.

Australia still have 10 Tests (1 vs Sri Lanka, 3 vs South Africa, 2 vs West Indies and 4 vs India) to go in the ongoing cycle and they can finish on the top by winning six of them. India can go past Australia if they win all of their six matches and Australia fail to win at least six matches.

South Africa still have eight matches (3 vs England, 2 vs New Zealand and 2 vs SL) to go. India can finish above the Proteas if they win all of their six matches and South Africa lose three of theirs.

Pakistan have seven matches (3 vs England, 2 vs NZ and 2 vs SL) left and they can finish above India by winning six of them. Two losses or two draws could spoil the party for Pakistan.

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