Here's how India can qualify to Test Championship final following Pakistan's defeat to England

India and Bangladesh will lock horns in the two-match Test series starting with the first Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhary Stadium in Chattogram. Both the Test matches of this series will be counted in the ongoing 2023 cycle of the World Test Championship. So, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team, the finalist of final of the first edition of this coveted tournament in the longest format of the game are ought to win all of their remaining clashes.

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The inaugural edition’s runners-up will strengthen their chances to reach the consecutive final if they end up winning all their six remaining matches in the World Test Championship. Currently, the Indians are at the fourth spot in the table having 52.08% of points in the column of their name.

Speaking of India’s neighbors and their arch-rivals Pakistan, they are giving tough competition to the former with being in the fifth spot in the points table. They have produced some brilliant performances in red-ball cricket. But their recent defeat against England in the Test series has turned the table quite a bit in comparison to the last scenario.

With said that, here we’ll have a look at the scenario for the Indian team’s qualification to the title match of the championship next year in 2023.

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Here’s a look at the scenario for team India to reach the final of WTC 2023:

Test Series against Bangladesh: Indian team will have to win both matches of the Test series against Bangladesh to keep their hopes alive in the contention for the finals of the marquee tournament of the traditional format of the game. A single defeat in the series might turn things in the opposite direction for the Indian team.

Notably, the Indian team will be missing their key players including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah.

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Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia: The Indian team will have four matches of their remaining six Tests against Australia only. The latter will tour India for this bilateral clash in February 2023. If India succeeds in winning the Test series with a clean sweep against Bangladesh, they will require to win three of the four-match Test series against the table-toppers Australia.

So, India will have to clinch the series against Australia with one of the margins from 4-0, 3-1, or 3-0 to stay alive in contention for the championship final.

South African witchcraft: Apart from the win in their own assignments, the Indians will also rely on the fate of the bilateral clashes involving the South African team. If South Africans lose three of their five remaining Tests, it will make things easy for the Indian team to go ahead in the table and secure their berth for the Finals of the tournament.