Team India’s upcoming WTC 2023-25 schedule announced. (AP Image)
Team India is set to take on Australia, South Africa and West Indies on overseas shores while they will host Bangladesh, New Zealand and England in the upcoming WTC 2023-25 cycle
Team India is set to battle it out with Australia for the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2023 and ahead of Day 5, fixtures for the upcoming WTC 2023-25 cycle have been announced.
Two-time finalists, India are set to play their home games in the upcoming WTC cycle against the likes of England, Bangladesh and New Zealand.
The WTC 2023-25 cycle will commence from the upcoming Ashes 2023 which will be played between arch-rivals England and Australia from June 16 to July 31.
The inaugural WTC was won by New Zealand as the Virat Kohli-led Indian team lost by 8 wickets in Southampton although the side led by Rohit Sharma now will be gunning to pick up the ICC trophy on the second time of asking as they will lock horns with Australia on Day 5 at the Oval.
India need 280 runs to win the WTC final 2023, anything less than that, Australia will be crowned champions of the second edition of the red-ball cricket’s biggest prize.
Talking about the WTC cycle 2023-25, Australia are set to travel to England for a five-match Test series which will mark the start of the third edition, and the WTC will go on for two years with a total of 27 series including 68 matches set to be played in group phases just like the previous two editions following a one-off game to decide the winner of the ICC mace.
The Indian team will play their away overseas Tests against Australia, West Indies and South Africa in the next WTC cycle.
England are set to play the most number of matches in the forthcoming cycle as they will play as many as 22 red-ball games, followed by Australia (21) and India (20). The Indian team will travel to Australia for the next edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, between the two WTC 2023 finalists.
Even though all the nine participating teams of the WTC cycle 2023-25 will not play equal number of games, every team will play six series, three each at home and away conditions with every series comprising of two to five Test matches.
As far as the rules are concerned, the forthcoming cycle will follow the same pattern as the previous ones, a win fetches the winning team 12 points, four points for a draw and six for a tie with the final standings being calculated on the percentage of points won.
Australia topped the WTC 2021-23 cycle with India finishing a close second.