WTC Final: Where to Watch WTC Final in USA, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Pakistan

New Zealand and India occupy ranks one and two respectively in the current ICC Test rankings.

Published - 15 Jun 2021, 09:39 IST | Updated - 15 Jun 2021, 09:39 IST

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India and New Zealand are all set to have a last shot at glory as the two-year cycle of the inaugural World Test Championship nears close. Introduced by the ICC with an aim to contextualize Test cricket, the league featured nine of the 12 Test-playing nations, who participated in over 25 series, starting from August 1, 2019, during Australia and England’s Ashes encounter at Edgbaston.

India finished at the summit of the WTC points table with 520 points in 6 series that included 12 Test wins, 4 losses, and a solitary draw. Following India closely at the second spot, New Zealand finished with 420 points from 5 series, where they registered 7 Test wins and 4 losses.

As the Covid-19 pandemic jolted the world, the sports industry was not left untouched, leading to multiple postponements and cancellations of series, which further led the ICC to modify the manner of points allocation from points obtained by wins and draws to percentage points. Enduring all the odds, both India and New Zealand kept the top spots in their grip and now head to the Ageas Bowl, Southampton for the showdown to determine the ultimate winner.

The road to the WTC final

India

October 2019, West Indies v India – India won 2-0

November 2019, India v South Africa – India won 3-0

November 2019, India v Bangladesh – India won 2-0

February 2020, New Zealand v India – India lost 0-2

December-January 2021, Australia v India – India won 2-1

February-March 2021, India v England – India won 3-1

New Zealand

August 2019, Sri Lanka v New Zealand – Series drawn 1-1

December-January 2019-20, Australia v New Zealand – New Zealand lost 0-3

February 2020, New Zealand v India – New Zealand won 2-0

December 2020, New Zealand v West Indies – New Zealand won 2-0

December-January 2020-21, New Zealand v Pakistan – New Zealand won 2-0

Playing conditions for the WTC final

The teams will be held joint champions in an event case of a draw or tie.

The match will be played using Grade 1 Dukes cricket balls.

Short Runs – The Third Umpire will automatically review any call of a ‘short run’ by the On-field Umpire and communicate the decision to the On-field Umpire prior to the next ball being bowled.

Player Reviews – The fielding captain/dismissed batsman may confirm with the on-field umpire whether a genuine attempt has been made to play the ball before initiating an LBW review.

DRS Reviews – For LBW reviews, the height margin of the wicket zone has been increased to the top of the stumps to ensure the same umpire’s call margin around the stumps for both height and width.

Reserve day – June 23, which has been kept as a reserve day, will come into consideration should net playing time (30 hours of play i.e., six hours a day) be lost due to any reason whatsoever. That said, the reserve day cannot be used to procure a result or outcome but only to compensate for the lost time or overs.