INTERNATIONAL CRICKET

How can India still qualify for the WTC final after Pakistan’s elimination

Indian National Team

India has a great chance of qualifying for the second edition of the World Test Championship after Pakistan’s failure.

The Men in Green have been defeated by England at home 2-0. Pakistan failed to win both Tests at Rawalpindi and Multan.

Both sides will now be facing each other at Karachi for the third and final Test.

India starts their Test series campaign against Bangladesh on the 14th of December, three days before Pakistan.

This is going to be the first time that India will ever play a Test series.

Looking at the WTC table, then India is currently placed fourth with a win percentage of 52.08%.

Pakistan is sixth on the table with a win percentage of 42.42%.

The teams ahead of India are Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Australia.

The win percentages for all three teams are 53.33%, 60%, and 75% respectively.

The top two teams will qualify for the final of the championship.

India is left with six Test matches to play in the current cycle- the Test series against Bangladesh which is an away series.

Then they will play against Australia at home in a four-Test series in February and March next year.

While South Africa successfully fended off the West Indies at home, they have a much better record of playing Test cricket in Australia which will prove to be a whole different challenge.

This is why any of the top two teams can suffer a defeat before they meet India at their home.

When it comes to Tests, then India is one of the toughest teams to beat at home and that is why they will be pretty confident of beating Australia at home.

India also has a great record against Bangladesh when it comes to Test cricket.

Scenario for India in order to qualify for World Test Championship

Thus, the ideal scenario for India right now is to win all of their remaining Test matches. If India manages to win all six of their last Tests, then it would give them a percentage of 68.06. This also gives India a good chance of securing a top-two spot.

But it can only happen if either Australia or South Africa face defeats in their Test series.

On the other hand, if India loses even one match in these 6, then they will be on the brink of elimination.

Scenario for Sri Lanka to qualify for the World Test Championship

The Lankan lions too have a chance of making it to the top two if they beat New Zealand in a home Test series. For Sri Lanka, they need to win the series 2-0 which gives them a percentage of 61.9% which is still not enough for them to qualify.

Follow Crickdom on Twitter for more.

To Top