The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the new points system and schedule for the World Test Championship of the 2021-2023 cycle.
Apart from laying down the home and away fixtures of the top nine teams, ICC also made an important announcement recently. In their statement, ICC made an important announcement about the point system that will be followed in the next cycle by revealing that each team will be awarded 12 points for a win, six for a tie, four for a draw, and zero for a loss.
“Each match of the upcoming WTC will now be contested for the same number of points – 12 for a win, four for a draw, and six for a tie, moving away from the previous system where the same number of points were allocated to each series, divided across the number of matches played,” ICC said.
The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, who ended up on the losing side of the World Test Championship was quick to react to the latest changes made by the ICC. Reacting to the announcement, Virat said that he is eagerly waiting for the WTC 2, to begin with the England series.
“It was great to have played the final of the ICC World Test Championship against New Zealand in what was a memorable contest. Not just the final, we saw the determination of players throughout the first edition of the championship.”
He added:
“The following of cricket lovers too was great to see, and I am sure they will all be waiting eagerly for the second edition. We will regroup with new energy for the next cycle starting with our series against England, hoping to give our fans a lot to cheer about,”
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who led his team to the title of the first-ever World Test Championship also talked about the changes. It won’t be wrong to say that Williamson looked eager to defend the title. He said:
“It was obviously pretty special to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship in Southampton last month and it’s exciting to now look ahead to the second edition.”
He added:
“The WTC has certainly added more context and brought new meaning to Test cricket and it was awesome to see the interest that was generated around the Final against India. We know trying to defend the title will be a huge challenge, but our focus will be on making sure we prepare as well as we can for the tours ahead and trying to maintain our level of performance,”
