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India will face Australia in the World Test Championship 2021-23 final at the Oval in London, in June. India progressed to the finals after New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka in a last-ball drama in Christchurch. India qualified for the WTC final for the second time in a row even before the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia concluded in Ahmedabad.
Sri Lanka were also competing for the summit clash in the Oval, London, but they did lose their first of their two-match series in New Zealand, which in turn favored team India to advance to the World Test Championship final.
Sri Lanka’s bid to finish in the top two was ended by an interesting last-ball win for New Zealand. India’s home Test series against Australia did not start well, so their worst possible World Test Championship points percentage is 57%, regardless of how many penalty points are granted due to poor over rates.
Sri Lanka initially continued to struggle with rain and ended in failure to bowl out New Zealand on 5th day of the Test, resulting in a highest suitable WTC points fraction of a percent of 56% if the second Test is won.
What made India qualify for the finals?
As it turned out, India confirmed their place in the London final even before they were even in action on 5th day of their Test against Australia in Ahmedabad, as Sri Lanka did lose the opening Test against the defending champions of last WTC, New Zealand in an exciting final day battle.
After Australia progressed to the championship final, only India and Sri Lanka remained as contenders for the WTC final in the second week of March, but the islanders’ heroic try in the Christchurch Test against New Zealand was not sufficient enough to keep their hopes alive.
India’s journey to WTC Final
India had played 566 Test matches as of December 2022, with 172 wins, 174 defeats, 220 draws, and 1 tie for a total of 30.38 winning percentage. For the second time in a row, the Indian team led by Rohit Sharma has qualified for the World Test Championship final.
Since December 2022, when they resumed their red-ball campaign, the team led by skipper Rohit Sharma has been on the verge of qualifying. However, thanks to their excellent performances during the initial two Tests against both Australia and New Zealand’s captivating victory, India was able to qualify for the WTC Final.
Despite the fact that needed to win the fourth Test of the continuing Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, New Zealand’s captivating win over Sri Lanka in the first Test opened the door for India.
To qualify, Rohit Sharma-led team needed to win the 4 match Test series against Australia by a score of 3-0 or 3-1. Sri Lanka needed to beat New Zealand in the Test series 2-0 in the hopes of qualifying for the WTC Final. Any other result from the New Zealand-Sri Lanka test game would have accomplished India’s qualifying criteria to the finals, and that’s exactly what happened.
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