The point system of World Test Championship (WTC) is such that the absolute number of points collected by the teams doesn’t determine their respective positions in the points table. Their respective positions are rather determined by the percentage of points that they win out of the total number of points available from all the games they play.
Every game carries 12 points to be won and a team gets a total number of 12 points for a victory, 6 points for a tie, 4 points for a draw or a no result and absolutely nothing for a loss.
Before the first test match against New Zealand, India had played 4 test matches against England in the World Test Championship cycle of 2021-23, out of which they had won two games, lost one and one was a draw, which meant they had collected 28 points out of the available 48 points from 4 games.
India had to pay the penalty of 2 points for their slow overrate which had brought their points’ tally down to 26 before the New Zealand series. They were at no. 2 in the WTC points table, with their percentage of points being 54.16.
India still at no. 2 in World Test Championship points table, but percentage of points has dipped
With the draw against New Zealand in Kanpur, India added another 4 points to their tally, but since 12 points were there to be won from the game, India’s percentage of points came down. Now, they have got 30 points in their tally out of an available 60, which brings their percentage of points down to 50.
Despite a drop in the percentage, India has been able to maintain their second position in the World Test Championship points table for now, because not a lot of teams have played too many games in the Championship yet, but this draw might hurt India big moving ahead as the other teams will play their share of games.
What’s also important to be noted is that this was a home test match for India where they could have collected all 12 points as they were used to the conditions. This might not always be the case as they travel overseas.
