IND vs AUS 3rd Test: The Aussies have finally managed to win their first Test match in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Tropht Test series. India have nobody for only themselves to blame as they have been extremely mediocre with the bat. The Indian bowlers had pulled the match back for their side on the 2nd day as they dismissed 6 Aussie batters for just 11 runs. Rohit Sharma and co. had a great chance of winning the match and qualifying for the WTC 2023 finals, but as of now, they will have to wait for the Ahmedabad Test to unfold.
WTC 2023 Final qualification scenario
The Indian team still needs one win to qualify for the final that will start on June 7, 2023, and will be played at The Oval. Australia with this thumping victory have attained the top spot with 69.0 PCT. The Aussies have now qualified for the finals and they now wait for their challengers. Interestingly, even if Australia lose the fourth and the final Test match and the series ends on 3-1, the visitors will end with a PCT of 65.0 and will still be at the top of the table.
If the series ends on 2-2
Looking at how the third Test match has turned out to be, if the Aussies, under the leadership of Steve Smith, manage to outplay India and the series ends on 2-2, Sri Lanka will be in with a great chance of qualifying for the finals. However, the Lankans will have a tough task ahead of them and they need to whitewash the Kiwis in their home conditions. Even if Sri Lanka end the series with 1-0 or 1-1, this will not help their cause.
If the series ends on 2-1
India's PCT will drop to 59.0 if the final Test match turns out to be a draw. India then will have to hope that Sri Lanka do not whitewash the Kiwis and win their Test series against them. In any given case, if Sri Lanka do not defeat the Kiwis by a margin of 2-0, India will go through.
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If the series ends on 3-1
Interestingly, India need only victory to qualify for the World Test Championship finals. They will fancy their chances in Ahmedabad where the Test match begins on March 9, 2023. They had a great chance of doing so in Indore, but the Aussies stunned them as they were on top of their cricketing skills from the first day.
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhneman
