Team India were handed a crushing defeat by England on Tuesday at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The hosts chased down 378 runs, riding on twin centuries from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root. The recent defeat has taken a major blow to India’s chance of making it to the finals of the ongoing edition of the ICC World Test Championship.
The Men in Blue, incidentally, reached the final of the inaugural edition of the Test Championship. However, they lost to New Zealand in the title decider. They were pitted as one of the strong favourites to make it to the finals of this edition as well. However, India find themselves in a spot after the recent loss.
The Asian giants had begun their journey on a positive note as they took a 2-1 lead in the series against England last year. However, since the postponement of the fifth and final Test match at Manchester, their campaign has gone downhill.
The failure to secure a win over New Zealand in the opening Test at home in Kanpur alongside a series defeat in South Africa has left the Rohit Sharma-led side in danger of missing out on the summit clash.
India suffer a double blow in the #WTC23 standings.
Read more 👉 https://t.co/KtGuIUqQHK pic.twitter.com/s7sx9Xj4HC
— ICC (@ICC) July 6, 2022
The defeat at Edgbaston alongside a two-point penalty due to slow-over rate has seen India slip to fourth place. Currently, the last year’s finalist has a percentage of points (PCT) of 52.08%. Pakistan are third with 52.38% while Australia and South Africa lead the tally with 77.78% and 71.43% respectively.
While India face a tough fight to reach the final, they are still in contention. Rohit Sharma & Co. have two series remaining which are a two-match away tour against Bangladesh and a four-match home series against Australia. A victory in all six matches will see India’s tally rise to 68.06%. A single defeat in those six games will make it next to impossible for them to qualify.
Apart from India only Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia can qualify. They will have to hope to upstage at least two of them on the points table to reach the final which is likely to take place in June 2023 at Lord’s.
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