World Test Championship: Road ahead for team India
Dec 14, 2022
Chattogram [Bangladesh], December 14 : India have a task on their hands to ensure they get a shot at the World Test Championship for the second time after faltering against New Zealand in the tournament's inaugural final last year.
Beginning on Wednesday, the men in blue will play two Test matches in Bangladesh. If they succeed there, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy competition that follows might end up being one of the biggest in recent memory.
India does have a compelling recent home record against Australia, and they will be optimistic that they can win that series and get to the World Test Championship final for the second time in a row.
Pakistan's home series loss to England ended the possibility of an India/Pakistan final, but the outcome eliminated one contender from India's quest to the final, and the Australia-South Africa series means the top two might nibble away at each other's points.
India will go into the Bangladesh series without some of its regular players. KL Rahul will serve as skipper in place of the injured Rohit Sharma who is nursing his finger injury and has been ruled out of the first test.
Other seasoned players in Jasprit Bumrah (back injury), Mohammad Shami (shoulder injury), and Ravindra Jadeja (knee injury) will miss the series owing to their respective injuries.
The battle for next year's World Test Championship final is extremely open following Pakistan's defeat by England in the second Test in Multan.
Ben Stokes and his team won in yet another nail-biter to secure England's first series victory in Pakistan since 2000-01, a week after pulling off a stunning triumph in the series opener in Rawalpindi.
Australia now sits atop the standings and is well-positioned to go to the 2023 championship game, but there are still four other teams who could make it to the World Test Championship final.
South Africa are second on the list and will play a crucial test series against Australia beginning from December 17. A 2-1 series loss to England away from home saw the Proteas lose the top spot on the World Test Championship standings, although they still remain in a strong position to reach next year's final.
