After facing a demoralizing loss from the hosts, team England has been knocked out of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) with India now just one step closer to the WTC final. The win against England in Ahmedabad brightened the Men in Blue’s chances of making it through to the ICC WTC final that is to be held in June at the iconic Lord’s stadium.  

Before the ongoing series, the arguably three best cricket squads, Australia, India and England were in contention for the coveted WTC final spot. After India crushed England in the third test, only Australia and India are in the final leg of the race. To get a better idea as to what either of these teams needs to do to book their seats for the WTC final spot, let’s look at the scenarios.  

Presenting the World Test Championship Qualification Scenarios

India: 

After the two back-to-back victories against the guests, the Indian team just needs to avoid a defeat in the last Test against England. Even a draw in the fourth and final test would be enough for the Kohli-led team to qualify for the ICC WTC final. A 2-1, or 3-1 series victory by India will confirm its spot for the final clash against New Zealand that is scheduled to take place at Lord’s. 

Australia: 

As the Australian team does not have any more Tests to play, they will be relying on the result of the upcoming India VS England match. If England manages to bounce back after their streak of defeats and stuns India in the fourth Test, it would clear Australia’s way for the WTC final. If the series is drawn with 2-2 as a final result, Australia would sneakily make its way to the final spot of the league table.  

Poor pitch has no effect on World Test Championship qualification 

Many Indian fans criticized the Ahmedabad pitch as not being playable. At the same time, these fans were skeptical whether India would get its fair share of points if the pitch was called ‘unfit’. Even in the case that the ICC rates the Ahmedabad pitch as poor, it will not have an effect on India’s position in the WTC league table.  

According to the ICC’s WTC playing conditions clause, in the case of a match being abandoned due to the fact that the pitch is ‘unfit’, the points for the match will be distributed on the basis of the fact that the visiting team won the match and the home team lost the match. But in the case of a match not being abandoned (which was the case with the 3rd Test in the ongoing series), Indian team didn’t see any effect on the WTC table.  

Ind VS Eng Test 3 Highlights 

India chased the paltry sum of 49 runs as the target during the third session of the second day of the Test. Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill shared an unbeaten 49-run-partnership and made the pitch look like something absolutely different than how it did in the previous sessions. 

Earlier during the second Innings, the lethal attack of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin managed to bowl the entire team of England out for just 81-runs. Home-crowd favorite Axar, who ended up picking 6 wickets in the first innings took another 5 wickets giving away just 32 runs. His experienced spin-mate Ashwin picked up the remaining 4 wickets and gave 48 runs.  

Prior to their disastrous collapse in the second innings, England managed to bowl the Indian team out for 145 runs and managed to inch their way back into the game. Team India started the second day of the Test on 99 for 3. But all of it went downhill too soon. England managed to scalp the next seven remaining wickets in just 46 runs. 

Joe Root, who is usually known for his rooted batting performance surprised everyone, including his own teammates by taking a fiver for just 8 runs. Jack Leach also joined the party and took 4 crucial wickets.