Why winning in Sydney will maximise India’s chances for Lord’s Finale
India were racing ahead, leaving everyone looking at them from a distance but then Covid happened. It brought a fundamental change to the World Test Championship, pushing India below Australia and now, as the race to Lord’s gets heated up, every match becomes an exercise for the Indian team.
India winning in Melbourne has become a giant step in the right direction and that clears the path for them to be in the contention for the World Test Championship final in Lord’s. The Sydney game will have the potential to manifest even further and to clear the confusion, we, at CricXstay, decided to explain the equation in a simple manner.
Please dive in.
Australia currently sits at the top of the table with 322 Points with an PCT of 0.766 while India are marginally behind with 0.722 from the 11 matches they have played so far. It is an interesting position to be in if one factors in the standing of New Zealand who have 0.667 PCT and are at the pole position to secure one more victory against Pakistan.
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At the time of writing, India have six Test matches remaining in the current cycle, with each win fetching them 30 points, and a draw getting them 10. But for India’s chances to be alive and kicking, the New Zealand impact needs to be taken into consideration.
New Zealand have already secured 180 points from their home summer since the pandemic break and if they win the ongoing Test at the Hagley Oval, they will reach 240 from the summer and thus taking their total points to 420 – that is 0.70 PCT.
India hopes to sweep England series
Now consider, India lose the last two Test matches of the series and went on to sweep the home series against England, their percentage will rise to 70.83, which will be marginally ahead of New Zealand’s 70%.
But in case, India end up with three wins, one loss and two draws from the remaining six games, they will end up with 69.44% which is marginally below New Zealand’s percentage. India will be keen to avoid that.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy result will be a clear demonstration at the end and everyone will have their eyes out. But India will want Pakistan to upset the applecart and beat New Zealand in the Christchurch game, thus they will have a bigger negotiating power going into the Sydney Test and the home series against England.
As of now, we can safely say that the ‘G win was a massive step up and it only requires a few more determining wins to book the Lord’s date.
