The Indian cricket team officially qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, booking the second spot after Australia had become the first team to seal their progression. India’s qualification came as a result of New Zealand’s triumph over Sri Lanka in the first Test at Christchurch. Despite a rain delay, the Kiwis successfully chased down the target of 285 runs on Day 5. Sri Lanka needed to win both their Tests against New Zealand to remain in the WTC final hunt but they couldn’t get the better of the hosts in the opener on Monday.
New Zealand secured a thrilling 2-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, with Kane Williamson hitting the final runs. Epic drama unfolded towards the end, with New Zealand losing a plethora of wickets towards the end. But, Williamson help his nerves to seal a 1-0 win in the series, and also knocked Sri Lanka out of the WTC final race.
Australia are sitting atop the WTC table with 68.52 percentage points (PCT).
Had Sri Lanka won the Test on Monday and strived for victory in the second match at Wellington, their PCT would have jumped from 53.33 to 61.11 — higher than India’s 60.29 before the start of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.
