India has qualified for the World Test Championship 2021–23 final, where they will face Australia for the trophy at The Oval in London starting on June 7, after to New Zealand's stunning victory against Sri Lanka in Christchurch on Sunday. With this, India has now advanced to consecutive WTC finals after losing to New Zealand in the previous cycle's summit match.
India and Sri Lanka were in a two-horse fight for the one open slot for the big game by the time they faced off in their final Test of the cycle, against Australia in Ahmedabad. The qualification scenario was a little complicated for Sri Lanka because they needed India to lose or draw in Ahmedabad in addition to winning both of their Test matches in New Zealand. The sort of start India made and their own dominance in the first few days in Christchurch would have raised their aspirations, but the ambition of reaching the final was dashed on a rain-hit Day 5 and a last-ball defeat.
India's journey in this second cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) started with the Test series in England in August-September 2021 under the Kohli-Shastri administration, where they won both of their games in London and took a 2-1 series lead before the coronavirus pandemic caused an indefinite postponement of the fifth Test. Rahul Dravid had advanced to fill Ravi Shastri's vacancy by the time they played the format again—a two-match home series against New Zealand. After a tie in Kanpur, India took the series with a victory in Mumbai.
The tour of South Africa followed. KL Rahul's first-innings century and an effective bowling effort gave India a 1-0 lead in Centurion, but things haven't gone well for them since. South Africa was able to tie the series in Johannesburg thanks to India's lackluster batting, and after a contentious third day in Cape Town, Dean Elgar's team won the match and the series, ending Virat Kohli's ambitions of adding South Africa to his resume of foreign victories.
Rohit Sharma led his maiden Test match as the official Test captain during India's home series against Sri Lanka in March. Ravindra Jadeja scored 175 and took a wicket in the first innings of the first Test, and Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer performed admirably in the second. He then led the side to a pretty easy and convincing series victory by a score of 2-0. India returned to England in July to play the fifth Test that had been postponed with the goal of winning the away series handily. Nevertheless, that was not to be as England successfully chased down the target in the fourth innings thanks to hundreds from Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.
India won 2-0 in Bangladesh to put an end to the 2022 season. India defeated Pakistan by a score of 188 runs thanks to Shubman Gill's first-ever Test century and Kuldeep Yadav's eight wickets over the two innings. Mehidy Hasan, who led the series in wickets, gave Bangladesh a chance to tie the series in the second game, but they came agonizingly short. India was reduced to 74 for 7, needing just 145 to win. Then, to clinch the series sweep, Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin ended Bangladesh's dreams of a last-minute robbery.
India has its sights set on reaching the WTC championship game when 2023 got under way. With victories over Australia in Nagpur and Delhi, where the tourists were destroyed by spin, they made significant progress in that direction. In Indore, though, Steve Smith's Australia struck back in Pat Cummins' absence, and India paid the price for their poor batting performance.
Due to Australia's impressive first innings total, which kept Sri Lanka in the game, the hosts also got off to a difficult start in the fourth Test. Nevertheless, that was only true up until the final day in Christchurch was essentially lost to rain, at which point New Zealand successfully chased down their target on the penultimate ball, ensuring India's qualification.
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