'If you focus on winning...': Ravi Shastri's blunt verdict on England's WTC points deduction following their victory over India at Lord's

After a hard-fought 22-run victory against India at Lord's, England were docked of two points from the World Test Championship (WTC) standings for maintaining a slow-over rate during the match. On Wednesday, the Internatinal Cricket Council (ICC) announced that England had been penalized of two points and fined 10 per cent of their match fee. This lead to England's points tally on the WTC standings go from 24 to 22 and their PCT to drop from 66.67% to 61.11%.

England slipped down a place on the WTC points table

The point deduction has also lead to the Three Lions slipping from second to third place on the WTC points table. Currently, Australia sit on top while Sri Lanka are placed on the second spot. On the other hand, India currently sit on the fourth position with 12 points and a PCT of 33.33%.

Former India cricketer Ravi Shastri recalled how Australia had been docked of four points during the Boxing Day Test against India in 2020 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He added that if England focus on winning matches throughout the ongoing WTC cycle, then the point deduction will not matter much.

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“It hurts as Australia found out in the first cycle of the World Test Championship. They had a slow over rate against India and it cost them the second place and Zealand qualified for that final. So you’ve got to be fully aware about all this. There’ll be certain games where they’ll probably make up for it," Shastri said in a video posted by ICC.

“But I think more than the over rate, you have to think of winning. If you focus on winning, then come the last six months, you can probably try and adjust, see how you can get those two points back or something of that sort. But you’ve got to win, that’s more important. Because if you keep winning, that won’t matter," he added.

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Meanwhile, the fourth Test of the series between India and England is set to commence from July 23. While the hosts will be looking to seal the series with another victory, Shubman Gill & Co. will be under pressure as they need to win at Old Trafford in order to have any chance of triumphing the series.