Can India qualify for the WTC final? Qualification scenarios announced

India lost their top spot in the World Test Championship rankings and slipped to second place after suffering an embarrassing defeat at home to New Zealand on Sunday.

India lost to New Zealand by 25 runs in the third and final Test in Mumbai, resulting in a 0-3 whitewash in a home Test series for the first time since South Africa’s 2-0 win in 1999-2000. This was also the first time India led 0-3 on home soil.

This was India’s fifth defeat in the ongoing WTC cycle, resulting in a significant drop in points percentage (PCT), falling from 62.82 to 58.33.

Thus, India fell to second place after the reigning champion Australia, which regained the top spot with 62.50 PCT.

India are now planning to fly Down Under to play the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy and this has now taken on more importance as both the teams are fighting for the top two spots.

India were considered the favorites to win most of the remaining matches in their quest to reach the WTC final for the third consecutive year.

But they now need to win four of their remaining five matches to qualify for the final without being reliant on external results, a tall order in Australia.

Australia, on the other hand, are in a better position as they need to win four of the remaining seven Tests.

New Zealand’s historic series win in India also strengthened their WTC final ambitions.

PCT rose to fourth place with 54.55, while Sri Lanka ranked third with 55.56 PCT.

South Africa, currently in fifth place with a PCT score of 54.17, are also in contention for a place in the top two and a place in next year’s one-off Test at Lord’s.