Stirred by ICC’s big action
At present, most of the test matches are being played under the World Test Championship. Barring a few teams, the rest are still in the race to reach the finals. After the matches of India vs Australia and South Africa vs Sri Lanka, there were a lot of changes in the World Test Championship points table. Currently, Team India is running at number one in this, whereas Australia has to go to number three. Meanwhile, ICC has surprised everyone by taking a big action. The points of two teams that were contenders for the WTC final have been deducted. Due to this, the race for the finals seems to be becoming more interesting once again.
New Zealand and England guilty of slow over rate, ICC deducted points
The final of the ICC World Test Championship will be played at the historic ground of Lord’s next year. Right now it is very difficult to say which two teams will face each other in this match, but this race has turned out to be quite interesting. The ICC has decided that both the teams bowled slowly in the Test match played between New Zealand and England. That means he has been found guilty of slow over rate. This match was played in Christchurch and England won it by eight wickets. The contest lasted for four days. The match had ended on December 2, now the ICC has taken the decision. The ICC has fined both the teams 15 percent of the match fee and has also deducted three very important points awarded under the World Test Championship.
New Zealand suffered huge loss, Sri Lanka benefited
After this decision of ICC, New Zealand and England have suffered a lot, but other teams now definitely have a chance to come forward. Although the England team was already out of the race for the final, New Zealand’s chances were alive. New Zealand had won the WTC title of the first cycle, when the team captured this trophy by defeating India. The New Zealand team has now moved directly from number four to number five. The Sri Lankan team has benefited from this. Sri Lanka has now become the team to reach number four.
The road ahead is very difficult for New Zealand
Before this decision, New Zealand’s PCT was 50 percent, but now it has come down to 47.92. This means that even if the New Zealand team wins its remaining two matches against England, its PCT can reach a maximum of 55.36, which may not be enough to go to the finals. Even if the New Zealand team wins the remaining two matches, it will have to keep an eye on the performance of the other teams, because playing its final will also depend on the performance of other teams.
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