India on Monday qualified for the final of the prestigious World Test Championship (WTC) with New Zealand’s thrilling two-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the Christchurch (New Zealand) Test.
India will face Australia in the WTC final to be played at The Oval from June 7. The Indian team has reached the WTC final for the second time in a row. The team lost to New Zealand in its inaugural season (2021).
Dimuth Karunaratne-led Sri Lanka needed to win the two-match series 2-0 in New Zealand to keep their hopes of reaching the WTC final alive. But his hopes ended with the defeat in the opening match. Australia became the first team to qualify for the WTC final after beating India by nine wickets in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series at Indore. India then needed a win in the Ahmedabad Test or a favorable result in the first Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
The result of the Christchurch Test took the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar series out of the equation. Australia topped the WTC final table ahead of the Ahmedabad Test with 68.52 percentage points (PTC). Sri Lanka had a percentage of 53.33 before the Christchurch Test.
If the team won both the matches on the New Zealand tour, its percentage would have gone up to 61.11 and if Ahmedabad had missed the Test draw, the team would have qualified. If the fourth Test against Australia is drawn, India’s PTC will be 60.29 points.
Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, however, removed all the ifs and buts from the WTC final equation with an unbeaten 121 to ensure a thrilling victory for New Zealand.
