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After the third Test between India and Australia ends in a draw, India’s chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final are on a knife’s edge now.
India will qualify for WTC 2025 final if Rohit Sharma’s men beat Australia in the next two Tests. (Picture Credit: AP)
The third Test of the ongoing five-match Test series between India and Australia ended in a draw on Wednesday, December 18. Due to rain, only 2.1 overs of play was possible in the fourth innings of the match, which was played from December 14 to 18 at The Gabba in Brisbane. As a result of the draw in Brisbane, India managed to retain its No. 3 position in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 points table. With just two matches left to play for India in the ongoing cycle, the world No. 2 Test team’s chances of qualifying for the WTC 2025 final are on a knife’s edge now.
India, which lost the 2021 and 2023 WTC finals against New Zealand and Australia, respectively, will qualify for the WTC final at Lord’s next year if Rohit Sharma’s men beat Australia in the next two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The last two Tests of the ongoing five-match series between India and Australia are scheduled to take place in Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7).
If the Test series ends 2-1 in favour of Team India, then India will need Sri Lanka to avoid a whitewash against Australia. After the conclusion of the ongoing series against India, the Baggy Greens will travel to Sri Lanka next year to take part in a two-match Test series.
If both India and Australia manage to win one more Test each and the series ends with a scoreline of 2-2, then India would need Sri Lanka to win the Test series against Australia.
And in case the Melbourne and Sydney Test also ends in a draw, then for India to qualify for the WTC 2025 final, Sri Lanka must draw or beat Australia in the two-match Test series.
Temba Bavuma-led South Africa sits at the No. 1 position in the WTC 2023-25 points table, and the Proteas will confirm their place in the WTC final next year if they manage to beat Pakistan 1-0 or 2-0 in the two-match series that starts on December 26.
The first Test of the South Africa-Pakistan series will be played from December 26 to 30 at SuperSport Park in Centurion, and Newlands in Cape Town will host the second Test from January 3 to 7.
