A 3-0 whitewash at home at the hands of New Zealand has badly hurt India and impeded their progress on the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table. A 25-run loss in the third and final match of the series at Wankhede has brought India down to the second position on the WTC standings.
Australia have benefitted massively from India’s 3-0 series loss to New Zealand. The defending WTC champions have leapfrogged India and are now occupying the first place on the ladder. Australia have eight wins in 12 matches in the ongoing WTC cycle (2023-25) and have only lost three.
WTC Points Table Update after New Zealand’s 3-0 series win over India
| Rank | Teams | Matches | Wins | Losses | Draw | Points | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Australia | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 90 | 62.50 |
| 2. | India | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 98 | 58.33 |
| 3. | Sri Lanka | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 60 | 55.56 |
| 4. | New Zealand | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 72 | 54.55 |
| 5. | South Africa | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 52 | 54.17 |
| 6. | England | 19 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 93 | 40.79 |
| 7. | Pakistan | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 40 | 33.33 |
| 8. | Bangladesh | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 33 | 27.50 |
| 9. | West Indies | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 18.52
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However, Team India are still in the race to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle final. The Rohit Sharma-led side needs to win four out of the five Tests in Australia during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy to make it through to the final. Though the challenge is massive, if India manage to ace it then they will play their third consecutive WTC final.
As far as New Zealand are concerned, they need to win each of their remaining three Tests at home against England to stay in contention for a spot in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 summit clash.