Sporting world has always celebrated cricket’s longest form. Test cricket test the cricketers both mentally and physically. Test matches are held between the nations that have been guaranteed ‘Test Status’. The ICC World Test Championship is a league competition kick started on 1 August 2019. The idea of conducting a Test tournament was born with the thought of having world leagues for all the three formats.
The tournament was first scheduled to be held in 2013 and later in 2017. Due to other tournament dates that overlapped, the tournament was cancelled both the times. Following the end of 50-over world cup in August 2019, the World Test Championship began with Ashes series. It is scheduled to be held till June 2021.
The top nine ranked teams out of the twelve-test cricket playing nations are selected to take part in the league. The nations are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies. Each team will play six bilateral series. Therefore, each team will get to play against 6 out of the 8 nations playing. Also, all teams will play 3 series at home and 3 away series. After all the bilateral series, the top two teams in the table qualify for the finals. The ICC World Test Championship final will take place in June 2021 at Lord’s, England.
Current Points table:
Each series will count for 120 points. It is distributed equally over the number of matches played in a series. In a two-match series, each Test match will be given 60 points. Whereas if it is a three-match series, it will give 40 points for each match. A tie will give 50\% of the points available & a draw will be a 3:1-point ratio. If two teams are tied, the team with a greater number of series win shall be placed higher in ranks.
A few additional test series that is not a part of this Championship will take place during the two-year period. This is scheduled to facilitate games to the three test playing nations that are not a part of the tournament.
The table toppers as of now are India with 360 points, followed by Australia with 176 points. India is enjoying a lead of 184 points. New Zealand is in the 3rd position with 60 points. The two teams that are ranked higher get to play the finals. As the tournament unfolds, increase in competition will make it more interesting.
