India face away test in next WTC
KOLKATA: Three home series against New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka and three away tours of England, South Africa and Bangladesh round off India’s schedule in the second cycle of the World Test Championship, the International Cricket Council announced on Wednesday. The 2021-23 Test cycle will have nine teams playing three home and three away series each with the cut-off date being March 31, 2023. This means apart from Pakistan, who India won’t play for diplomatic reasons, Virat Kohli’s team will also not play the West Indies.
While percentage of points won will again be used to determine the standings, ICC has changed the points system. Each match will have the same number of points–12 for a win, four for a draw and six for a tie, unlike the previous system in which 120 points were allocated to each series and divided by the number of Test matches played.
“We received feedback that the previous points system needed to be simplified,” ICC acting CEO Geoff Allardice said in the media release. “The Cricket Committee took this into consideration when proposing a new, standardised points system. It maintained the principle of ensuring that all matches in a series count towards a team’s standing while accommodating series varying in length between two Tests and five Tests.”
Though not confirmed by BCCI, according to the ICC Future Tours Program, India will host New Zealand for two Tests right after the T20 World Cup, tour South Africa for three Tests in December-January, host Sri Lanka for three Tests in February-March 2022 and host Australia for four Tests in October before touring Bangladesh for two Tests in November.
Add to that the five-Test series in England beginning next month and India are looking at a Test Championship cycle comprising 19 matches. But for the T20 World Cup this October and the World Cup starting in February, 2023, India’s Test itinerary could have been longer.
At home, India are almost impregnable, and they will look to gain the maximum from the series against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia. Of the eight Tests they have played against Australia at home in the last 10 years, India have won six, lost and drawn one each. Current form suggests they shouldn’t have any problem winning next year. However, since the points are now match-specific (earlier, 120 points were available per series—60 points for a match in a two-Test series, 40 points apiece in a three-Test series and so on; it meant shorter series had more value), India would be under pressure to sweep the series against Australia.
New Zealand, the current champions, have a poor record in India (they have won two out of 34 Tests since 1955, having won last in 1988) and may well be found out again; Sri Lanka look too beleaguered to bother India.
Bangladesh can be tough at home but a stronger spin attack gives India the edge. And with South Africa in a rebuild mode after the retirements of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Dale Steyn, India have their best chance for a first-ever series win in that country.
It would be disappointing otherwise, given how the 2018 series went (India dropped Ajinkya Rahane in the first two Tests, got the 11 wrong for the second Test on a subcontinent like Centurion pitch before winning in Johannesburg; South Africa won the series 2-1).
If India are seeking a second successive Test championship final in 2023, they have to start with a good show in the upcoming five-Test England series. Their record is abysmal (India have played 14 Tests in England in the last 10 years, won 2, lost 11 and drawn 1). The recent encouraging run away from home though inspires hope.