New Zealand’s recent victory over the West Indies has boosted their aspirations in the World Test Championship (WTC), with the final scheduled for June 2021 at Lord’s.
After their victory in Wellington, New Zealand moved very close to the top spot in the Test rankings, just 0.086 points behind Australia.
The announcement was accompanied by some uncertainty, as the ICC’s prediction tool initially placed New Zealand at the top, before the ICC itself clarified that Australia maintains the first position.
Australia will look to consolidate their position in the home series against India. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s two victories over the West Indies have earned them 300 WTC points in the current cycle.
A 2-0 victory over Pakistan could take them to 420 points.
This would mean that India would need five wins, or four wins and three draws, in their remaining eight tests to prevent New Zealand from reaching the WTC final.
Due to the alterations caused by the pandemic, the ICC modified the classification criteria, moving from absolute points to a percentage of points played, that is, points per series played.
Australia currently leads the WTC table with 82.2% of the points won.
If Australia ties 2-2 against India, it will still lead with 74.17%, but a 1-2 defeat will reduce its percentage to 70%.
New Zealand, if they win their two matches against Pakistan, could end up with 84 points per series played or 70% of the points contested.
India, with 360 points from four series, will need to surpass 504 points in its upcoming series against Australia and England to overtake New Zealand.
Each remaining victory for India will be worth 30 points, while draws will add 10 points.
Depending on the results of the India vs. Australia and New Zealand vs. Pakistan series, Australia could consolidate its lead or concede ground to New Zealand in the rankings.
