India’s 7-wicket defeat to South Africa in the third Test at Newlands in Cape Town not only put their dream of winning a Test series against the Proteas away from home on hold but also dented their progress in the World Test Championship (WTC). India slipped to the fifth spot in the latest WTC points table after the Virat Kohli-led side lost the three-match series to South Africa 1-2 on Friday. South Africa, on the other hand, rose to the fourth spot with this crucial victory.
India have played nine Tests in the second cycle of WTC, winning four, losing three and drawing two. Despite winning the most number of Tests among all the teams so far in the WTC cycle, India are fifth because their PCT (percentage of points won) is lower than Sri Lanka, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa.
India’s PCT has now dropped to 49.07 from 55.21. India have also lost three points due to slow over-rate.
Sri Lanka top the chart with after two wins in two matches. With the victory in the last two Tests against India, South Africa have improved their PCT to 66.66.
Updated WTC points table
South Africa’s brilliant series win has placed them nicely in the latest #WTC23 standings ???? pic.twitter.com/SJkLtZVpUS
— ICC (@ICC) January 14, 2022
Australia, who are leading the Ashes 3-0 against England are at the second position with a PCT of 83.33.
Pakistan are at No.3 with a PCT of 75.00.
The top two teams will qualify for the final of WTC at the end of the cycle. In the previous edition, India had faced New Zealand in the final, which the latter won.
ICC had made a host of changes to the WTC points system after the first edition. According to the new rules, the number of Test wins and series victories does not determine the standings, the percentage of points won (PCT) does. It was done to do away with the disparity in the number of Tests each team is slated to play in the WTC cycle.
Promoted
Each team is scheduled to play six series – three home and three away – but because the number of Tests in those series varies for each team, ICC came up with PCT.
In the new system, a team can earn 12 points with a Test win, six points are reserved for a tie and in case of a draw, both the teams get four points each. A point is deducted for every over a team falls short of the mandated over-rate.
Here is how PCT is calculated in WTC
India have played nine Tests in WTC so far. The maximum number of WTC points they could have earned were 108 (9*12) if they had won all of them but they won four, drew two, taking their total to 56. Three points were deducted as they were three overs short of the mandated over-rate. India currently have 53 WTC points. Hence, their PCT is 49.07, which ultimately determines the standing.
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