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The only historical Test match being played between India and Afghanistan (IND vs AFG) on the ground of Mullanpur has reached a very exciting turn. By the end of the second day of the match, the Indian cricket team led by young captain Shubman Gill had completely strengthened its hold on the match. After the strong performance of the Indian batsmen, the bowlers have also wreaked havoc on the Mullanpur pitch, due to which it is expected that this test match will end on the third or fourth day itself. Amidst this one-sided match, the biggest question arising in the minds of cricket fans is whether the possible victory in this match will give any advantage to the Indian team in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC Points Table)? Let us know in detail the complete situation of the match and the complete equation of WTC.
India scores like a mountain with centuries from Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, Afghanistan on back foot.
After winning the toss in the Mullanpur Test, the Indian team came to bat first and scored a lot of runs. Team India declared its first innings after losing 8 wickets for 564 runs. From the Indian side, captain Shubhman Gill and experienced batsman KL Rahul batted brilliantly and scored brilliant centuries. Apart from these two, Sai Sudarshan, wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Washington Sundar played half-century innings and took the team to this huge score. In response, the Afghanistan team, which came to play the first innings, looked very weak in front of the Indian spin and pace attack. By the end of the second day’s play, Afghanistan had lost 5 important wickets on the score of just 113 runs. At present Rahmat Shah is struggling alone at the crease after scoring 43 runs. The Indian team would like to wrap up Afghanistan on the third day and give a follow-on so that the match can be won as soon as possible.
Will India-Afghanistan Test have any impact on WTC points table? Big update for fans
Seeing this excellent condition of the Indian team, the fans are continuously doing mathematics to see what will be the improvement in the ranking of Team India in the points table. So for your information, let us make it clear that this only Test match of India vs Afghanistan is not going to have even the slightest impact on the points table of the World Test Championship (WTC). The simple reason for this is that this only Test match is not a part of the ICC’s WTC cycle. This is a bilateral Test series being played between the two countries, the objective of which is to promote Test cricket.
After all, why is Afghanistan not a part of WTC? Know the rules of this ICC league
According to ICC rules, only the top-9 teams of the world participate in the current cycle of the World Test Championship. Afghanistan cricket team, despite being a full member of ICC, is not included in this elite list. Currently, only the teams of India, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, England and West Indies are playing against each other in the WTC race. Apart from Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe are also full member countries, which have not been able to make their place in the WTC format till now. This is the reason why no team gets any WTC points if it wins the Test against Afghanistan.
Equation changed after ENG vs NZ test, know the condition of Australia and India present at number-1
Even if the India-Afghanistan match does not change the points table, the recently concluded England vs New Zealand (ENG vs NZ) Lord’s Test has completely shaken up the equations. In the first Test match played at Lord’s, England defeated New Zealand by a huge margin of 115 runs. After this defeat, the Kiwi team has suffered a huge loss and has slipped from the second position in the points table to the fourth position. South Africa and Sri Lanka have directly benefited from New Zealand’s defeat, who have reached second and third position respectively without playing any match. At the same time, Kangaroo team (Australia) is firmly occupying the first position with 87.5 percent marks.
Team India is ahead of Pakistan and England, these three test series will decide the final ticket
Interestingly, despite defeating New Zealand, the English team has not got any big jump in the points table and is placed just behind India at 7th position, while the Pakistan team has slipped to 8th position. The Indian team is currently proudly holding the sixth (6th) position in the WTC cycle with 4 wins in 9 matches. The journey in the coming months is going to be very challenging for India, because Team India has to undertake a tough overseas tour of Sri Lanka and New Zealand in this cycle. After this, early next year (2027), the Indian team will host Australia at its home ground. These upcoming three Test series will completely decide whether Rohit-Shubman’s army can get the ticket to WTC Final for the third consecutive time or not.