ICC World Test Championship: How India can topple Australia from the top of the WTC table

It’s been a couple of months now since Australia triumphed over India on a Sunday evening in Ahmedabad and the dust will have settled by now after the roller-coaster of a ride that was the 2023 ICC World Cup. And the attention has already begun shifting towards the shortest format with the T20 World Cup set to take place in the West Indies and USA later this summer.

Test cricket will probably get some attention for now with between the ODI and T20 World Cups, especially when England tour India for a five-Test series that commences on 25 January at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. The spotlight will be firmly fixed on the elite five-day format next year when the race to the World Test Championship final starts getting close to the business end. For now, however, it will have to make do with whatever little attention it gets.

As for the WTC table itself, defending champions Australia find themselves at the top of the ladder after their 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan in a series that kickstarted their home season, followed by their dominant 10-wicket victory over West Indies in Adelaide in the first of two Tests. The Aussies face the West Indies in the second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, which is considered their fortress where they have lost just one Test since 1988, and currently are firm favourites to complete a 2-0 sweep.

Team India have played four Tests so far, two each in West Indies and South Africa, and are set to participate in their first home assignment of the ongoing WTC cycle when they host England, who happen to be the last team to have beaten India in a Test series in India. India won the Test series in the Caribbean 1-0, the second match getting washed out and preventing Rohit Sharma and Co from completing a sweep.

Against the Proteas in the ‘Rainbow Nation’, the Indians were in for a rude shock in the first Test in Centurion, which ended in a clinical innings victory for South Africa inside three days. The Indians however, bounced back in style with a seven-wicket victory in Cape Town in a match that ended in less than two days.

India currently find themselves at the second spot on the WTC table with a Points Percentage of 54.16, and skipper Rohit will hope to overtake Australia on the table when they face England in the five-Test series. However, simply beating England by any margin will not suffice for the two-time WTC runners-up.

How India can topple Australia from the top of the WTC ladder

The best chance India have at claiming the No 1 spot on the World Test Championship ladder is if they defeat England 5-0 in the Test series. Whitewashing the series will give the home team 60 points, taking their tally to 86 that will translate to a PCT of 79.6.

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Australia currently sit at the top of the table with a PCT of 61.11, having collected 66 points along the way starting from last year’s Ashes. Their points percentage can climb to a maximum of 65 if they defeat West Indies in the Brisbane Test that starts on the same day as the first India-England Test.

South Africa and New Zealand also pose a threat to the Indians at the third and fourth spots with PCTs of 50 each. One of the two sides could potentially dislodge India from the second spot if they end up sweeping the upcoming two-Test series that begins next month, and England end up pulling off a landmark series win on Indian soil.