lords
South Africa and Australia will face each other in the third World Test Championship final. Australia defeated India in Sydney to reach the final of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 3-1 series win. This match will be played at Lord’s between 11 and 15 June. Australia still have two more matches left in this cycle, against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka later this month. But even if they lose 0-2, neither India nor Sri Lanka will be able to dislodge them from the top two spots of the World Test Championship table. If Sri Lanka wins this series 2-0, it can reach 53.85 percent mark. But Australia is currently at 63.73 percent and even if it loses the next two matches, it will be at 57.02 percent. Whereas India has ended this WTC cycle with 50 percent marks. The only way for Australia to miss the final is for them to miss eight penalty points in both matches in Sri Lanka, which is almost impossible.
South Africa became the first team to reach the final. They won series against the West Indies, Bangladesh (first series win in Asia since 2008) and Sri Lanka, while drawing the home series against India and losing in New Zealand, where they toured with a weakened team. Making it to the World Test Championship final was a dream come true for South Africa, who had also finished runners-up in the Men’s and Women’s T20 World Cups earlier this year.
“This is the result of a huge amount of hard work for everyone, and it feels like all the hard work over the last 12 months has paid off,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said after qualifying for the finals last week. Different players have made important contributions on different occasions. I want to especially thank our coach Shukri Conrad. The confidence he has instilled in us has been the key to our success.”
He further said, “Playing the World Test Championship final at Lord’s is a dream come true for any cricketer. “This is a huge opportunity, and we’re excited to live it up.”
Australia captain Cummins said, “The World Test Championship is very important for us. It’s a trophy we look at with pride. Also, we are very excited to defend this title. I think it is a great tournament because it requires consistent performance and playing against different teams in different conditions. We are very excited to play the final.”
This is the first time that India has not reached the final of the World Test Championship. In the two previous editions, it had finished runner-up against New Zealand and Australia.
