Explained: How Can India Still Make It To The WTC 2023-25 Final?

New Zealand restricted the Indian team to just 245 runs in the second innings to secure a 113-run victory on day three of their second test in Pune on Saturday. They won the three-match series 2-0 against India. Earlier, the Kiwis outplayed the Indian team in the opening test in Bengaluru by eight wickets. For New Zealand, Mitchell Santner starred with the ball, picking up 6-104 for a match haul of 13. The Indian team also broke their streak of 18 successive home series wins since 2012. 

Talking about India’s hope of taking part in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, they were standing on the top of the WTC 2023-25 cycle points table. Now that they lost the series to New Zealand, they have to win their final Test match ahead of eyeing a win against Australia in the five-match series down under to keep their chances alive.

Even after losing the Test series against New Zealand in Pune, the Indian team remain at the top of the WTC 2023-25 points table with 62.82 percentage points. But then, they have to secure victories in five of their remaining six Test matches to qualify for the final. 

Pakistan on the other hand, took a massive jump to seventh with 33.33 percentage points, while Bangladesh, after their loss to South Africa, are now in eighth place with 30.56 percentage points.

After losing the series against New Zealand, the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said, “Disappointing. It's not what we expected. Got to give credit to NZ - they played better than us. We failed to capitalise on certain moments. We failed to respond to those challenges. And we sit here today. Didn't think we batted well enough to get runs on the board. You've got to pick 20 wickets to win, yes, but batters have to put runs on the board. Was a great fightback to restrict them to 250-odd but we knew it was going to be challenging.”

“When they started off, they were 200/3 and for us to come back and get them bowled out for 259 was a great effort. Wasn't a pitch where a lot was happening. We just didn't bat well enough. Things would've been slightly different had we got a bit closer in the first innings. We want to show up well at Wankhede and try and win that Test. It's a collective failure. I'm not somebody who would blame just the batters or the bowlers. We will come out with better intent, better ideas and better methods at Wankhede”, he added.