ICC World Test Championship Final postponed

The final of the ICC World Test Championship has reportedly been delayed by 8 days to avoid any potential clash with the the Indian Premier League2021 fixtures which is expected to be held between April and May. As known earlier Lord’s will host the inaugural world Test championship final in the mid of June. 

Given the proximity to IPL final and quarantine protocols – the finals is now pushed to June 18 with June 23 as the reserve day. The original schedule slated the final of the World Test Championship to get underway from June 10 at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

“The WTC Final will now be played from June 18-22 and June 23 will be the reserve day. As background we pushed it back to allow for any quarantine that may be imposed, particularly given the close proximity to the end of the IPL and the original dates) so driven by quarantine,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

However, the fixtures for the upcoming season of IPL is yet to be decided – with the news of clarity on finals date of World Test Championship, BCCI might come up with a window for the marquee tournament.

The race for the final of the championship is heating up with India, New Zealand and Australia occupy the top-three spots in nine-team points table. India and England registered impressive wins at the start of the new year and they will clash head on head in the next series.

India reclaimed the top spot on the points table thanks to a 2-1 series win down under in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. England too are closing in with a sensational 2-0 clean sweep against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.

India are sitting at the top with 71.7 percentage followed by New Zealand at 70.0%  and Australia at 69.2%.

To ensure they reach the final, India will have to beat England in their upcoming four-match series at home by a margin of at least two Tests. On the other hand, England have a tougher road ahead as they have to beat India by a 3-0 or 4-0 margin or any other result will leave their fate onto other series.