Despite suffering a humiliating defeat by 184 runs in the Boxing Day
Despite suffering a humiliating defeat by 184 runs in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at MCG, India is still alive in the race to qualify for the WTC final.
Australia beat India by 184 runs on Monday to win the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and take a 2-1 lead in the ongoing five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Baggy Greens bowled out India for 155 runs in 79.1 overs after setting up a target of 340 runs to chase down in 92 overs on the fifth and final day of the match. For India, young opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored by making 84 runs from 208 balls, but he lacked support from the other end.
The experienced trio of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli failed to fire once again and returned back to the pavilion in the first session itself for scores of 9 (40 balls), 0 (5 balls), and 5 (29 balls), respectively.
After suffering an embarrassing defeat in front of more than 50K fans at the MCG, India’s chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final took a massive hit. However, despite that, India, which sits at No. 3 position in the points table with 52.78 PCT%, can qualify for the final next year at Lord’s against South Africa.
If this happens, then India will finish the WTC 2023-25 cycle with 55.26 PCT%, Australia with maximum of 53.51 PCT%, and Sri Lanka with maximum of 53.85 PCT%.
But if India lose the New Year Test or it ends in a draw, then Rohit Sharma’s side will get knocked out of the race to qualify for the third WTC final in a row. If India beat Australia in Sydney and Australia win at least one Test in Sri Lanka then India will get knocked out. South Africa booked its place in the WTC final for the first time on Sunday, December 29, by defeating Pakistan by two wickets in the first Test of the two-match series played at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
