New Zealand won the first edition of the ICC World Test Championship, defeating India by 8 wickets in the final. The ICC World Test Championship’s first edition began in 2019 and concluded this year. In this article, we take a look at the beginnings of the ICC Championship, why it all began and what to expect for the Indian cricket team in 2021-23. 

New Zealand Wins The First World Test Championship! 

The New Zealand cricket team won an ICC tournament for the first time since 2000

The New Zealand Cricket Team has won the title of ICC World Test Championship 2021,  after almost 21 years.

In the final, they defeated the Indian team by eight wickets. New Zealand were able to dominate the target of 139 runs for the win due to the brilliant innings of captain Kane Williamson (52) and Ross Taylor (47) for the loss of two wickets. Both of them made an unbroken partnership of 96 runs. With this, it also became the first team to win the World Test Championship. 

Due to rain on the first and fourth day, the match was stretched to the sixth day, which was kept as a safe day by the International Cricket Council (ICC). New Zealand took full advantage of this. First, their bowlers bundled out India for 170 in the second innings and later created history by scoring 140 for two with excellent innings by Taylor (47 not out off 100 balls) and Williamson (52 not off 89 balls). The disappointing performance of the top batsmen led to India’s defeat, which prolonged their wait to win the ICC Trophy.

What is the ICC World Test Championship? 

The ICC World Test Championship, or ICC World Test Championship for short, is a major competition between Test cricket nations proposed by the ICC WTC International Cricket Council. It will be held in England for the first time in 2018. In fact, the competition was supposed to be held in 2013. But it was postponed due to economic constraints. It will replace the ICC Champions Trophy as a one-day international competition. Also, it has been decided to hold the second Test Championship in February-March, 2021.

For several years, the International Cricket Council has been thinking of hosting Test cricket tournaments in the form of the Cricket World Cup, the ICC Champions Trophy, the ICC World Twenty20 and the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

ICC chief executive Aaron Lorgat has proposed holding semi-final and final matches with the top four cricket teams every four years. Such arrangements are made as the duration of the sport is the largest. The 2013 Test Championship was to be held in England for the first time. 

But the game was delayed due to a lack of cooperation from the broadcasting partner – ESPN Star Sports. The main reason for this is to make more profit in the Champions Trophy. Finally, the ICC announced that the inaugural event would be held in England in 2018. 

India was the runner up team

The first series of the ICC World Test Championship has come to a grand end with the title match between India and New Zealand. The Indian team came second, while the New Zealand team took the lead as the winner for 2019-2021. 

The Indian team wanted to set a difficult target in front of New Zealand by scoring at least 200 runs but Tim Southee (4 for 48), Trent Boult (3 for 39) and Kyle Jamieson (2 for 30) kept the pressure on the batsmen from the start. 

Dismissed early, India started playing ahead of 64 for two in the morning but Jamieson put pressure on Kohli and Pujara. The Indian captain (Virat Kohli age 32) gave a simple catch to Watling on the extra bounce ball going out of Jamieson’s off-stump. Pujara again came to the crease by deciding that he did not want to score runs. He didn’t even show any intention to score runs. There was also pressure and in such a situation, Pujara wanted to remove his bat from the ball taking an angle from Jamieson but he could not do so and gave an easy catch to Ross Taylor.

India’s score became 72 runs for four wickets. Their lead was only 40 runs. Rahane added 37 runs with Pant. In this regard, the contribution of left-handed batsman Pant was more. Rahane then caught it behind the wicket in an attempt to flick the ball off Trent Boult (1 for 37). After this series, the ICC has also announced the schedule for the next season. 

What’s next for India in the World Test Championship?

The schedule for the second season of the ICC World Test Championship has been announced. Under this, India has to play a Test series from 6 countries including England, which will start from the first week of August.

The Indian team will play six series between 2021 and 2023, starting against England in August. The team captained by Virat Kohli is gearing up to play a 5-match Test series against England. The first match of the five-match Test series will be held in Nottingham from 4 to 8 August. After this, the second Test will be held at Lord’s ground in London from 12 to 16 August. The third Test will be played out at Leeds from 25 to 29 August and the fourth will be played at The Oval in London from 2 to 6 September. The fifth Test match of the series will be played in Manchester till 10 September.