Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer held their nerves on a spin-friendly track to prevent Bangladesh from pulling off a Christmas miracle and register their first win against India. The unbeaten 71-run eighth-wicket partnership ensured India win the second Test in the first session of Day 4 by three wickets and win the series 2-0 to retain their second spot on World Test Championship (WTC) 2022-23 table. With the latest triumph against Bangladesh, Team India's 2022 season came to an end on a rather positive note.
India also consolidated their position on the WTC standings and are now perfectly poised to qualify for the final. With a win percentage of 58.93 and India are stationed at the number two spot in the WTC standings. During the 2021-23 cycle, India have won eight Tests and lost four games while having drawn two contests.
Australia currently tops the WTC standings with a win percentage of 76.92. The Baggy Greens have won nine Tests, lost one and drawn three matches in during the 2021-23 WTC cycle. South Africa are third on the WTC standings with a win percentage of 54.55. The Proteas have won six Tests and lost five fixtures during the 2021-23 WTC cycle.
A closer look at the standings reveals that it is a three-way battle between Australia, India and South Africa for the two spots in the WTC final.
If Australia registers a 3-0 against South Africa, India would need to win by any margin against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series in 2023 to qualify for the WTC final. In case South Africa manages to win any of the remaining two Test matches against Australia and win by 2-0 against West Indies, then things get interesting. India would then need to win the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia by a margin of 3-1, 3-0 or even 2-0.
