With a dominant win against South Africa in the first Test, the Indian team consolidated its position at the top of the World Test Championship points table. Sitting pretty with 160 points after three matches, Kohli and team are well ahead of the rest of the pack. New Zealand and Sri Lanka take the next two positions with 60 points. Australia and England round off the top 5 with 56 points each.
India had won two matches against West Indies and accumulated 120 points and then bagged 40 more with the win against South Africa. As per the stipulated framework, a series is allotted 120 points and depending on the number of matches played, the winner bags these points.
What do the rules say:
Each team plays six series, with each series counting for 120 points, distributed over the number of matches in a series. For example, a two-match series will mean 60 points for each Test while a three-match series will give 40 points to each Test match. A tie will be 50% of the points available, whilst a draw will be a 3:1 points ratio.
Matches in series (2) – Win/Tie/Draw – 60/30/20
Matches in series (3) – Win/Tie/Draw – 40/20/13
Matches in series (4) – Win/Tie/Draw – 30/15/10
Matches in series (5) – Win/Tie/Draw – 24/12/8
Hailing the effort at the end of the match, Indian captain lauded the efforts of his bowlers for being relentless right throughout the match even in oppressive conditions.
“It was a hard grind though because of the weather and the pitch slowing down. It’s all about the attitude. If fast bowlers step out thinking, spinners are going to do the job, then it’s not going to happen. But fast bowlers have been brilliant in India as well. They might prefer shorter spells but it’s all about wanting to do for the team. Jaddu and Ash again really really good. Ash in the first innings especially, given the conditions. Jadeja in the second making those quick wickets,” Kohli said after the match.
“But Shami has been a wicket-taker for us in the second innings for quite some time now. This lot of SG balls is much better than the last lot. The hard ball obviously makes it difficult for the batsmen. We would like to see the ball remaining hard till about 60 overs. This was better from the last lot but we would like to stay it hard for 60 overs,” he further added.
