India have qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final for the second consecutive time as New Zealand won the first against Sri Lanka at Christchurch on Monday.
India will face Australia in the summit clash at The Oval on June 7. India also become the first team to reach both WTC Finals after finishing runners-up in the previous cycle. Under Virat Kohli's leadership, India lost to New Zealand in the 2021 WTC Final.
India and Sri Lanka were competing for the second WTC Final berth after Australia booked their spot.
In the ongoing four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, India won the first two matches in Nagpur and New Delhi while the visitors won the Indore Test and sealed the WTC Final spot.
India needed to win the fourth Test against Australia in order to earn the automatic qualification for the mega clash. Otherwise, the result of the two-match Test series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka will decide India's fate.
In order to earn a WTC Final berth, Sri Lanka had to win both Tests to overtake India in win percentage in WTC standings. As Sri Lanka failed to win the first Test, it means that they finish third in the standings irrespective of the result of the second Test against New Zealand.
India's Road To WTC Final 2023
The result of the ongoing fourth Test between India and Australia doesn't hold any significance now for the hosts. India are lead the four-match series by 2-1 and retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
India began their campaign for the cycle in England, taking a 2-1 lead in their series against Joe Root's men, before the fifth Test was postponed until 2022 due to Covid.
They would go on to lose the fifth Test match in Birmingham, though strong home series against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh set up their charge to the WTC final.