New Delhi: The fate of the Indian cricket team in the 2025-27 cycle of the World Test Championship is going to be decided by the upcoming seven matches. To get the ticket for the final, the Indian team will have to play these seven matches with utmost caution and aggressive strategy. Now a small mistake or losing a point in any match can prove very costly for Team India. Under this cycle, India has to play two Tests on New Zealand soil, after which it has to take part in a long five-match Test series against Australia at home.
Double challenge of home series against Australia
After the New Zealand tour, India has to host Australia on its grounds. At present, Australia remains on the top of the points table, due to which this five-match series has double importance for India.
The Indian team will not only have a chance to add points to its own bag, but it can also cause direct damage to its biggest rival by reducing the points percentage.
New Zealand tour will decide the journey of India
This important campaign of India will start with a difficult overseas tour of New Zealand. These two Test matches, played in foreign conditions, will determine India's position in the WTC points table. If the Indian team is successful in defeating New Zealand in both the matches on its own soil, then both its morale and position will become very strong before the upcoming home series against Australia. On the contrary, if the Indian team loses points in New Zealand, the pressure on the team will increase manifold in the matches against Australia.
Mathematics of defeat in New Zealand and history of WTC
If India loses both the matches in New Zealand, then the road will become very difficult. In such a situation, despite a 5-0 clean sweep of Australia, India's final points percentage will remain only 59.26. Then instead of qualifying on its own, Team India will have to depend on the results of other countries. If we look at history, in the last WTC cycle, South Africa had entered the finals with 69.44 percent marks and Australia with 67.54 percent marks.
Before that, in the 2023 cycle, India had also managed to reach the finals with 58.80 percent marks. If India wins all its remaining seven Tests, its points percentage will reach 70.37 and it will easily enter the final. At the same time, India's claim will be very strong by scoring around 65 percent points with six wins and one loss. At present the picture is not bad and seven matches are enough to change India's fortunes.