It is equivalent to the World Cup as present in the T20 and ODI format, but the only difference stands that the World Test Championship is played over a two-year cycle with each of the nine contestants playing an assigned number of home and away games before the top-two teams are decided who then contest for the elusive trophy. Until 2019, ICC annually presented a Test Mace to the side that ended with the No.1 rank before the governing body kicked off the WTC tournament which added more value to the format. New Zealand were the champions of the inaugural cycle. And by the end of this week, Test cricket will have a new champion as India face Australia in the summit clash at The Oval starting June 7. Ahead of the final, here are some of the details pertaining to the contest.
Is there a Reserve Day?
Weather is predicted to be mostly sunny between Day 1 (Wednesday) Day 4 (Saturday), with the latter day also expected to be a bit cloudy as well. However, there is a forecast for spotty afternoon showers on Day 5 (Sunday), and hence the Reserve Day will come into play in the WTC final as it was in the 2021 final. Two years back, the opening day was washed out due to rain, taking the match into the sixth day.
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What is the rule for Reserve Day?
According to the rule, the sixth day will only be utilised if rain or thunderstorm forces a washout on one of the five days and there is no result reached at the end of the five days.
What happens if the WTC final ends in a draw or is tied?
{{/usCountry}}According to the rule, the sixth day will only be utilised if rain or thunderstorm forces a washout on one of the five days and there is no result reached at the end of the five days.
What happens if the WTC final ends in a draw or is tied?
{{/usCountry}}In case of a draw or tie, the trophy will be shared between India and Australia.
The squads:
Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Michael Neser, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
Reserves: Mitch Marsh, Matt Renshaw
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav.
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav