Image Courtesy-CricShots.com
India will play against six nations in the second World Test Championship. As per the rules, nine nations in the World Test Championship (WTC) calendar have to play against six nations of their choice. The Indian team has to play three tours in the next two years, starting with the England series next month. Apart from this, the Indian team has to tour South Africa and Bangladesh. On the other hand, India also has to host three countries, which include New Zealand, Australia, and Sri Lanka.
India will begin its second WTC campaign from August 4 with a five-match Test series against England. The team also has to tour South Africa from December 2021 to January 2022, then play a series against Bangladesh in November 2022 on its soil. Apart from the series against England, the biggest series will be against Australia at home from September to early November next year. Apart from these, India will host New Zealand for two Test matches in November this year and Sri Lanka from February to March 2022.
The second cycle of the WTC consists of only two series of five Test matches. These include the India-England series, apart from the Ashes series between Australia and England to be held this year. Four Test matches will be played in Australia’s tour of India next year. This will be the only series of four matches in the new cycle. Nine Test teams will play a total of six series each. Of these, like last time, three series will have to be played at home and three abroad.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday officially confirmed that 12 points will be awarded for a win, four for a draw, and six for a tie during the second round of the WTC. The ICC further said that the percentage of points won will be used to determine the places in the 2021-23 cycle.
Earlier 120 points were fixed for each Test series, leading to inequality as winning a Test in a two-Test series would give a team 60 points, while winning a match in a five-Test series would also get 60 points.