Credit: ICC
The World Test Championship (WTC) is a biennial tournament, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), to crown the world champions in Test cricket, who receive the coveted mace as the prize. It is a premier international tournament for the longest format of the game, played by nine teams out of 12 possessing the Test status, with the one becoming champion after two years of pulsating cricket all over the world.
Since the inception of the WTC in 2019, there have been three completed editions of the tournament taking place over the last six years, with each of the nine teams taking on six different teams in series, three at home and three away. The inaugural edition of the WTC was won by New Zealand after defeating India by eight wickets in the final at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in 2021 on sixth day aka the reserve day due to weather interruptions, while the second edition of the tournament went the way of Australia, who defeated India by 209 runs in the final in 2023 at The Oval in London.
The final of the third edition of the WTC was played last month at Lord’s in London where South Africa defeated Australia by five wickets, to win their first ICC trophy in senior men’s cricket in 27 years. With three different champions in three editions of the WTC, it will be interesting to see whether a new team clinches the WTC mace for the first-time ever or three of the previous champions, including the defending champion, South Africa, take home the trophy.
WTC 2025-27 gets off to a spectacular start in June
In the fourth edition of the WTC, also called the 2025-27 cycle, which began in June of this year, there have been a few big results taking place, especially in the five-match Test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, wherein England are currently leading India 2-1 at home after three matches. Since England and India are two of the marquee teams competing for a spot in the WTC final two years down the line, the result of this series could go a long way in determining the eventual standings of the tournament.
List of nine teams who have been a part of all the four editions of the WTC:
- Australia (Champions 2023, Runners-up 2025)
- New Zealand (Champions 2021)
- South Africa (Champions 2023)
- India (Runners-up 2021 and 2023)
- England
- Pakistan
- Sri Lanka
- West Indies
- Bangladesh
After WTC came into existence, one of the major points of contention in the WTC is the lack of promotion or relegation system in the tournament, not allowing the likes of Ireland, Afghanistan, and Zimbabwe, the remaining three teams with a Test status, to compete in it. Furthermore, with the nine teams competing in each edition of the WTC, the best way to determine the finalist would be to have them play each other both home and away in a series, but it is far from it.
With the teams like England, Australia, and India playing more Tests in a WTC cycle in comparison to other teams, there is also lack of uniformity in the number of matches in the tournaments. This is the reason why the ICC have introduced the PCT system to calculate the WTC standing of each team in a particular cycle rather than the number of points attained by them.
Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ):
Q1. How many teams play the WTC?
Ans: Nine teams play an edition of the WTC.
Q2. Did India qualify for WTC 2025?
Ans: No, there is no qualification process to compete in WTC. Nine out of 12 teams with Test status, including India, have been playing the tournament since its inception.
Q3. Have India ever won the WTC?
No, India have never won the WTC. They have lost the final of the tournament in 2021 to New Zealand and in 2023 to Australia.
