World Test Championship 2023: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on February 8, 2023, revealed the dates of the finals that will be played at The Oval later this year. India, Australia, and South Africa are the prominent contenders and the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series between the 'men in blue' and the Aussies will decide who takes the flight to London and plays the all-important match. India will take on Australia in a four-match Test series that starts on February 9, 2023, and will be played in Nagpur.
The WTC (World Test Championship) finals will be played at The Oval, London from 7 to 11 June 2023 after the Indian Premier League (IPL) concludes. Keeping in mind what happened the last time around in the 2021 edition of the WTC finals, ICC has also kept June 12, 2023, as the reserve day. New Zealand are the defending champions of the title but they might not even get to chance to defend their title in the finals. The Kiwis defeated India by a margin of wickets in 2021. The match was played in Southampton.
As of now, the Aussies lead the points table for the ongoing cycle and have a healthy percentage of 75.56, followed by India at 58.93. This is exactly why the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series is so important for both teams. The series of the result will decide who goes on to play in the finals which starts on June 7, 2023. Ahead of the series, Australian skipper Pat Cummins opened up on how motivating it is for him and his team to play in the marquee event.
Pat Cummins said:
The prospect of playing a WTC (World Test Championship) Final has been a huge motivator for us, more so because we missed out the last time due to over rates. The interesting element about it is that both the teams get to play at a neutral venue which is The Oval this time. After a strong 12 months, we are confident that we can secure a place in the final after competing with India.
Rohit Sharma also reacted to the prospect of playing in a WTC final and he said:
Leading team India out onto the field of play at the World Test Championship Final would be special. We have grown and developed as a team during this competition and to be in with a chance of lifting the Mace at the Oval in June, we know we first need to overcome a tough Australian side.
Sri Lanka with (53.33%) and South Africa (48.72%) are on the third and fourth positions and are in with a very slim chance. The Lankans have two away Test matches against New Zealand and South Africa's last assignment is the two-match home series against the West Indies.
