The International Cricket Council (ICC) released a new points-table system for the ongoing World Test Championship, keeping in mind the number of Test series lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic forced the cancellation of six Test series and the global cricketing body faces a race against time to complete the Championship cycle by March next year.
Hence, the ICC brought out the idea of calculating the points through percentage, which means that the teams will be awarded percentages on the basis of the points they scored out of the maximum points achievable. It was for this reason that India, which were otherwise at the top of the table in the Championship, have now dropped to second spot with Australia replacing them.
How does it work?
India have 360 points in the World Test Championship, having played four Test series so far. While the side won seven matches, it lost its last Test series against New Zealand, facing a 2-0 sweep.
ICC has kept a 120-point limit for every Test series, meaning that India could've scored a maximum of 480 points from their four Test series.
With the percentage points system (PCT), India's total from the four series so far comes to 0.75 (360/480).
This is where Australia enjoy an upper hand over Team India. While the side has played 10 matches (one more than India), they've come in three Test series, meaning that Australia's PCT were calculated out of a maximum of 360 points.
And so, with 296 points out of 360, Australia are at the top with a PCT of 0.822.
Why the change?
ICC believes that the updated points system "doesn't disadvantage teams" that faced cancellation of their Test series due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Both the Cricket Committee and Chief Executives Committee supported the approach of ranking teams based on completed matches and points earned as this reflects their performance and doesn’t disadvantage teams that have been unable to compete all of their matches through no fault of their own," the ICC said in a statement.
“We explored a whole range of options, but our Members felt strongly that we should proceed as planned with the first ever World Test Championship Final in June next year.”
