India qualify for the 2023 WTC final, to meet Australia in the summit clash at the Oval

In what seems to be the biggest news of the day, India qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final as Sri Lanka were pipped by New Zealand in what turned out into a last-ball thriller, eventually paving the path for the clash of the two titans at the Oval, from 7th June.

Two set batters, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell steered the Kiwi ship and fought till the very end, with the New Zealand captain playing a major part in the hosts’ 2-wicket win at Christchurch.

With both the final Test between Australia and India and the first Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka spanning out till the fifth day, both results were important to the context of the WTC final. 

With the India vs Australia 4th Test certainly heading for a draw, it was important that New Zealand win at least one of their two games against the visiting Lankans and much to the joys of the Indian cricket team, it all happened in the first Test itself, eventually locking the grand finale with a clash between India and Australia.

Kane Williamson smashed an unbeaten century while Daryl Mitchell’s quickfire 86 ensured that New Zealand went for the kill. For quite a lion’s share of the game, New Zealand didn’t really seem to be in the hunt but it all changed in the end and the hosts started looking a lot more enforcing and eventually seized control of the fixture on that final ball.

Providing a quick glance at the numbers, even if Sri Lanka wins the final Test against New Zealand, they would only go up to 52.78% points which would have been lower than India’s 56.94% even if they had lost to Australia in the series finale. However, courtesy of the draw, India finished with 58.80%.

In the ongoing WTC cycle, Australia has so far secured numbers of 11-3 while India has registered a win-loss form of 10-5 and are the only two teams who have secured wins that are double or more than double the number of losses that they have incurred in the ongoing edition of the tournament.