ICC Changes World Test Championship Rules, Australia go up from Second to First place

International Cricket Council (ICC) has altered the rules of ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) due to the Pandemic, which means India go down from First to Second place. Due to Covid-19 a lot of matches of WTC were cancelled. With New Rules by ICC the teams that missed the matches won't get disadvantaged. 

In the Old Rules, The Team Rankings in the table was calculated by Highest Points gained by a team. The team which gained highest points in the points table of WTC was considered as Number 1. If this rule had stayed the team which lost matches due to Covid-19 pandemic would have disadvantaged. But now ICC has altered the rules, in such a way that no team gets disadvantaged. According to New Rule, the Team Rankings will be calculated by Percentage of Points (POP). POP is the percentage of points won by a particular team out of the total number of points contested in a series.

Let's take an Example,

So far India has played four series in the WTC. The total number of points that India was contesting was 480. India has gained 360 points. So the percentage of points is 75 percent. 

So far Australia has played three series in the WTC. The total number of points that Australia was contesting was 360. Australia has gained 296 points. So the percentage of points is 82.22 percent. 

In Old Rules, India were placed First. But According to New Rules, Australia go up from second to first place because Australia has better percentage than India. 

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said, “Both the Cricket Committee and Chief Executive Committee support the approach of ranking teams based on completed matches and points earned as this reflects their performance and doesn’t disadvantage teams that have been unable to complete all their matches through no fault of their own. We explored a whole range of options, but our Members felt strongly that we should proceed as planned with the first ever World Test Championship Final in June next year,” he added.

“The unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19 means, to date, just under half of the World Test Championship matches have been played, with that estimated to rise to more than 85% by the end of the competition window, Current regulations dictate that matches not completed shall be treated as a draw with points split. The Cricket Committee considered maintaining that status quo or determining the final World Test Championship League standings from matches played,” ICC said in a statement release. 

Teams Series Played Pts Contested  Pts Won Pts %

Australia   3 360 296 82.22

India           4 480 360 75

England           4 480 292 60.83

New Zealand   3 360 180 50

Pakistan 3.5 420 166 39.52

Sri Lanka   2 240 80 33.33

West Indies   2 240 40 16.67

South Africa   2 240 24 10

Bangladesh 2.5 180 0 0