As the 2021-22 cricket season draws to a close, we take a look at where the countries are in the ICC Men’s World Test Championship 2021-2024 and what awaits them.
The 2021-22 international Test cricket season came to a close with South Africa’s overwhelming 2-0 win over Bangladesh at home, which began with India’s thrilling tour of England.
Meanwhile, the World Test Championship has seen a number of exciting encounters, like the West Indies’ final-wicket robbery against Pakistan in Jamaica, Australia’s historic Test victory over Pakistan, Bangladesh upsetting New Zealand away from home, and many others.
The rankings are starting to take shape, with Australia leading with 75% of the vote and arch-rival England trailing with 12.50 percent.
Australia: In eight Test matches, they earned 75% of the potential points, with five victories and three ties. Sri Lanka (away – two Tests), India (away – four Tests), West Indies (home – two Tests), and South Africa (home – two Tests) are the remaining series (home – three Tests).
Australia may have lost out on the finals of the inaugural World Test Championship by a whisker, but they appear to be on track to do so this time.With a 4-0 Ashes success over England and a thrilling 1-0 win over Pakistan in a historic series, they made the most of their home advantage.
In two series that would have been deemed difficult when the tours were announced, Australia has gone undefeated. The tour of India will be the most difficult of the next four series, but the recent batsmanship of Usman Khawaja and others, as well as the general quality of the bowling attack, will give them great confidence heading into WTC23.
South Africa: Following their comeback series victory over India, South Africa has maintained their momentum and is now sitting second in the WTC23 standings. They overcame a 1-0 deficit to win the second Test and draw the series at 1-1 away from home before thumping Bangladesh at home, with spin playing a major part.
The rise of Keegan Petersen and Marco Jansen has bolstered the Proteas’ batting and bowling, which already includes stalwarts like Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, and Kagiso Rabada. If South Africa defeats England and the West Indies in the forthcoming series, they may find themselves competing with Australia for the top two slots in the WTC23 cycle’s final series.
India: Six victories, three losses, and two draws in 11 Test matches yielded 58.33 percent of possible points.
England (away – one postponed Test from the August-September series in 2021), Australia (home – four Tests), and Bangladesh are the remaining series (away – two Tests).
The World Test Championship finalists got off to a great start in this cycle, winning a 2-1 series against England before defeating New Zealand 1-0. With Rohit Sharma taking over from Virat Kohli, India bounced back from a 2-1 series loss to South Africa with a 2-0 victory over Sri Lanka.
India’s path to the finals, assuming they qualify, appears to be difficult. They will play England in a one-off Test before playing current World Cup leaders Australia at home. Bangladesh has also shown to be a difficult squad to beat at home.
In the forthcoming series, they will rely on their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who is presently the leading wicket-taker in WTC23, and want to make consecutive finals under new leadership.
Pakistan: In eight Test matches, three victories, two losses, and two ties yielded 52.38 percent of possible points.
Sri Lanka (two Tests away), England (three Tests at home), and New Zealand are the remaining series (home – two Tests)
Pakistan’s WTC23 campaign began with two away matches.
They drew 1-1 with the West Indies before going on to beat Bangladesh 2-0. They were heavy favorites to beat Australia at home, but they fell short 1-0.
Srilanka: Sri Lanka has played the fewest games of all the teams so far, with only four games played. So far, they’ve won two games and lost two. They ruled the West Indies at home, but India humbled them on the road. The good news is that they still have a long way to go, with four series left to play, two at home and one on the Indian subcontinent.
Sri Lanka’s captain, Dimuth Karunaratne, has been leading by example thus far, and they will rely heavily on him in the coming series if they are to climb the WTC23 standings.
New Zealand: A total of 38.88 points is required. The defending champions are presently sixth in the WTC23 standings after failing to win a single series thus far. Their first series was played away from home against India, the team they defeated in the WTC21 finals. Even though they drew the first Test, they were soundly defeated in the second.
They were upset by Bangladesh in the first Test of the series at home but came back to win the second game by an innings.
In the series against South Africa, they lost the second Test by a massive margin of 198 runs, giving up a 1-0 series lead. Kane Williamson, their premier player, has been sidelined with an elbow injury and has only played in one of their first six Tests.
Tom Latham has filled the vacuum of captain and go-to batter in his absence, scoring 446 runs in six games thus far. The Black Caps face a difficult road ahead, as they play two series in India.
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
Published By : Shubham Ghulaxe
