India suffered a rare Test match loss at home to New Zealand as they went down to the Blackcaps in the first Test in Bengaluru. Despite a heroic effort in the second innings, the Men in Blue could not pose enough of a threat and lost a Test against New Zealand at home for the first time after 36 years.
The Rohit Sharma's men had set a 107-run target after a brilliant fightback in the second innings when they scored 462. Despite a little hiccup, the Blackcaps reached their target in the first session on Day 5 for the loss of two wickets.
After the defeat, the two-time finalists India have suffered a loss of percentage in the World Test Championship points table. While they are still sitting on top of the nine-team standings, the PCT has dipped down a bit from 74.24% to 68.06% after the Bengaluru loss.
Are India on the road to qualify for their third WTC final?
While the loss has hurt India, they are still on the road to qualifying for the WTC final for the third straight time. There is no panic time but the serial finalists cannot afford much of a hiccup from here on.
India have seven more matches left to play - two against New Zealand and five against Australia - in this WTC cycle. If they win four of the seven games, they will stay on 64.03 PCT and that should place them well for a place in the final. But a fifth win will take them to 69.29% which must be enough for them to book their ticket for the final at Lord's which will take place from June 11 to June 15.
If India somehow win only two of the remaining seven Tests, their PCT will stand at 53.50%, which will be a big threat for the Men in Blue. Three wins out of seven will keep their PCT to 58.77% but it would be a risky territory as others can catch up. Third-placed Sri Lanka have two more games left and they can reach a maximum of 56.63 PCT. New Zealand are pretty much in the hunt too and can reach 64.28% if they win all of their remaining four games. Four to five more wins shall be enough for the Men in Blue to cruise through the WTC final.
The cut-off for the previous finalists Australia and India was 66.67% and 58.80%, respectively.
