India were resoundingly beaten in the fifth and final Test of their series in England, with the hosts succeeding in drawing the series which began nearly a year ago at 2-2. India would have hoped for a positive result in this match, both for how it would have ensured a historic series victory in England for the first time since 2007, but also of the significance the result would have for their hopes to qualify for the 2023 edition of the World Test Championships final. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for India, as Jonny Bairstow experiencing the form of his Test career scored two centuries, and Joe Root joined in to make the steep 378-run chase look quite simple in the end, with 7 wickets to spare.
India reached the final in 2021, losing out to New Zealand in the showpiece event held on neutral ground at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. Searching for redemption, India will look back on the 2-1 series loss to South Africa as well as the drawn home Test against the Kiwis in Kanpur as a missed opportunity. Following this loss at Edgbaston, India now have 6 games left to play — four against Australia at home, and two away in Bangladesh.
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The top two positions in the table are comfortably occupied by Australia and South Africa, both of whom are north of a 70% win percentage, while India and Pakistan in third and fourth sit just a shade above 50% each. Despite England’s strong results in recent weeks, with four wins over New Zealand and India, they are languishing at 33%, having been thumped in the Ashes and dropped 2 games to India.
India will consider themselves still in the hunt, with Australia and South Africa scheduled to play a 3-match series in the Australian summer: with one of the two teams dropping points there, India should be able to claw its way up. South Africa will also tour England, who given their resurgence under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes could do India a big favour by beating the Proteas in the tour beginning in August 2022.
{{/usCountry}}India will consider themselves still in the hunt, with Australia and South Africa scheduled to play a 3-match series in the Australian summer: with one of the two teams dropping points there, India should be able to claw its way up. South Africa will also tour England, who given their resurgence under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes could do India a big favour by beating the Proteas in the tour beginning in August 2022.
{{/usCountry}}India could have their fate in their own hands once Australia come to visit for a four-match series in early 2023, with the permutations and combinations becoming more evident by that point in the schedule.
Pakistan will also remain interested, with a good schedule over the second half of their WTC calendar: they are scheduled to play England and New Zealand at home, as well as touring Sri Lanka. With all their remaining matches in Asia, both India and Pakistan will be hoping to pile the pressure on the Aussies and the Proteas currently sitting at the top of the table.