centurion
South Africa has performed brilliantly and made it to the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. Under the leadership of Temba Bavuma, South Africa achieved this feat by defeating Pakistan by 2 wickets in the Centurion Test. In the match, the African team had a target of 148 runs to win, which it achieved in the second session of the fourth day of the game (29 December). South Africa has reached the WTC final for the first time.
While chasing the target, South Africa at one time lost eight wickets for 99 runs. From here, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada made an unbeaten partnership of 51 runs to take South Africa to the destination of victory. Rabada remained not out on 31 and Jansen remained not out on 16 runs. Fast bowler Mohammad Abbas tried to give victory to Pakistan by taking six wickets in the second innings, but Jansen-Rabada spoiled his efforts. Now the second and last match of the Test series between the two teams will be played in Cape Town from January 3.
South Africa has entered the finals of the World Test Championship 2023-25, but the wait for the other team continues. Now three teams are in the race for one spot. These include India, Australia and Sri Lanka. New Zealand, England, Pakistan, Bangladesh and West Indies are already out of the race for the final. The final of the current cycle of WTC is to be played at the Mecca of cricket Lord’s from June 11-15 next year.
♦ The Indian team will have to win both the Tests (including Melbourne) against Australia to reach the final easily. If the Indian team draws or loses even one match, it will have to depend on other results.
♦ If the Indian team wins the series 2-1, then it will have to hope that Sri Lanka draws at least one match in the two-match home series against Australia.
♦ If the series against Australia is drawn 2-2, India will finish at 55.26 percentage points. In such a situation, the Indian team will reach the final only if Sri Lanka wins the two-match Test series against Australia at home by 1-0 or 2-0.
♦ If the Melbourne and Sydney Tests end in a draw, the Indian team will finish on 53.51 points. In such a situation, India will reach the finals only if the Sri Lankan team wins the series against Australia by 1-0 or draws 0-0. If the series against Sri Lanka is tied 0-0, Australia will have the same 53.51 percent points as India. But in this cycle, India will be ahead on the basis of winning more series. If Sri Lanka wins the series 2-0, it will go ahead of India.
♦ If the Indian team loses the series against Australia by 1-2, then it will be out of the final race with 51.75 percent marks.
This is the third cycle of the World Test Championship, which will run from 2023 to 2025. ICC had already released the rules related to the points system for this third cycle. The team gets 12 points if it wins a test match, 4 points if the match is drawn and 6 points if the match is tied.
At the same time, 100 percent points are added for winning the match, 50 percent for tie, 33.33 percent for draw and zero percent for defeat. A total of 24 points are available in a two-match series and 60 points are available in a five-match series. Ranking in the points table is primarily determined on the basis of win percentage.
