Explained: How can India qualify for ICC WTC 2023-25 final after 0-3 series loss to New Zealand

The ICC WTC 2023-25 final is scheduled to be played at the Lord’s in June 2025.

The Indian cricket team have suffered a huge dent in their chances of reaching the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 following their 3-0 defeat against New Zealand.

After sealing their maiden test series in India with wins in Bengaluru and Pune, New Zealand consigned the hosts to further agony by handing India their first-ever home test series whitewash in a series of three of more games.

The defeat in the Mumbai test was heartbreaking as the hosts failed to reach the target of 147 runs. Ajaz Patel bagged the Man of the Match in Mumbai, while Will Young was the Man of the Series.

We will look at how has this 3-0 resulted impacted India’s chances of reaching the ICC WTC 2023-25 final and what they need to do to reach the summit clash at Lord’s.

Firstly, India dropped from the top to the second spot in the ICC WTC standings as their PCT (percentage of points won) is now 58.33, lower than Australia’s 62.50. Earlier, only India, Australia and Sri Lanka seemed to be in the race for the ICC WTC 2023-25 final. However, with India losing to New Zealand and South Africa winning in Bangladesh, both these teams too now have a good chance of making it to the final.

India have one more test series left in this cycle – a five-match test series in Australia, starting on November 22.

How can India qualify for the ICC WTC 2023-25 final?

To be certain of a place in the ICC WTC 2023-25 final and to not depend on other teams’ results, India need to beat Australia by a 4-0 scoreline in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. This result will take India’s PCT to 65.79%. Even a 4-1 result may not entirely be sufficient as other teams could surpass their PCT.

However, defeating Australia 4-0 in Australia, or defeating them at all in any of the tests, is going to be an uphill task for this Indian team. So, it is likely going to come down to needing the results of other series to go their way.

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