India lost their top spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) rankings and slipped to second place after a surprising home series defeat to New Zealand on Sunday. India lost to New Zealand by 25 runs in the third and final Test match in Mumbai, resulting in a 0-3 series whitewash.
This is India’s first time losing a home Test series 0-3 and their first home series loss since South Africa beat them 2-0 in 1999-2000. India has now lost five matches in this WTC cycle, which dropped their points percentage (PCT) from 62.82 to 58.33. Because of this, India fell to the second spot, behind current leaders Australia, who hold a PCT of 62.50.
India will soon travel to Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. This series is now even more important, as both teams want to secure a top-two spot to reach the WTC final. To qualify for the final without relying on other teams’ results, India must win four out of these five matches, which is not an easy task in Australia.
Australia is in a better position as they need to win only four of their remaining seven Tests to stay in the top two.
New Zealand’s historic series win in India has also boosted their chances of reaching the WTC final. They have moved to the fourth spot with a PCT of 54.55. Sri Lanka is in third place with a PCT of 55.56, while South Africa is in fifth with a PCT of 54.17. Both Sri Lanka and South Africa still have a chance to reach the top two and play in the one-off WTC final at Lord’s next year.