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Team India has a task cut out to qualify for the World Test championship (WTC) 2021-2023 final and the path seems tricky and infused with challenges. India are currently placed fourth in the WTC standings with Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka grabbing the first, second and third spot. The Men in Blue will need to clinch victories almost all of the remaining six matches as even one defeat from here can cost them dearly.
They have already taken the first step and are well on their course to the WTC final qualification with the dominant performance in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram. India are on the driver's seat after the close of Day 2 as they reduced Bangladesh to 133/8 after posting a colossal total of 404 riding on some fine performances from Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Meanwhile, India's head coach Rahul Dravid has chalked out India's battle plan to qualify for the WTC 2021-2023 final. He said that India are not looking too far ahead and are taking one step at a time with WTC final in mind.
“It is one step at a time. I don't think we can start looking at the sixth one before we start here. We have got to win this one first. We have to play our best cricket to give ourselves a chance and then go to Dhaka and replicate. Just take it as we go,” former India skipper said in an interview on BCCI.tv.
Post the two-match Test series against Bangladesh, India will then be pitted against Australia for the four-match home Test series. Australia also host South Africa in a three-match Test series starting on Saturday (December 17). It means that the current top two can take major hits on their win percentage in the coming months, especially Australia who face the daunting task of facing India at their home. Australia have not been able to beat India in a Test series, home or away since 2015.
“We know we have a challenge in our hands, we have to win a majority of the games we have left in the championship. But we are not going to get there if we don't take the first steps well. We have to focus on this one and then see how the cards fall and then we will see what we have to do in the series against Australia,” Dravid further added.
