Indian skipper Virat Kohli has finally opened up on the new rules of the World Test Championship. As opposed to points, the top two teams will be decided now on percentage. This is the reason why despite having more points India have dropped to number two despite being more points.
India have 360 points as opposed to Australia’s 292 despite which Team India has dropped to number three in the World Test Championship points table.
New World Test Championship rules difficult to understand: Virat Kohli
Speaking at the virtual press conference before the first ODI, Virat Kohli opened up on the complexities of the new rules of the World Test Championship.
“It is definitely surprising because we were told that points are a matter of contention for the top two teams qualifying in World Test championships and now suddenly it has become percentage out of nowhere, so it is confusing and difficult to understand why,” Kohli said during a video conference ahead of the first ODI against Australia.
Virat Kohli further said that had the changes been informed to them prior. they would have played with a different approach.
“If these things were explained to us from day one then it would have been easier to understand the reason why such a change has happened. But it happened out of nowhere and I think further questions need to be asked to the ICC to understand why this has been done and what are the reasons behind it.”
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the entire cricket calendar. A number of bilateral series have been cancelled. The World T20 was forced to be postponed and so was the Women’s tournaments.
AS per ICC under half the championship have been played till now and by the end of the WTC cycle, only 85 percent will be played. The new rules were announced under the supervision of the ICC Cricket Committee, headed by Anil Kumble, who recommended that the final WTC standings should be determined on the basis of matches played, which was approved by the Board.
“Both the Cricket Committee and Chief Executives Committee supported the approach of ranking teams based on completed matches and points earned as this reflects their performance and doesn’t disadvantage teams that have been unable to compete all of their matches through no fault of their own,” ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney had said.
