Pataudi series to kick off WTC 2 cycle, India to play 19 matches by the end of the cycle

The second cycle of the ICC World Test Championship will kick off with a five-match Pataudi Trophy involving England and India that is slated to be played from 4th August. The Indian contingent is already in England enjoying their time out of the bio-bubble. They will rejoin a fortnight before the first Test to start their preparation for the series. Along with that series, the Ashes slated to be played in Australia in December will be the only other series comprising of five Tests in the second WTC cycle.

Australia are scheduled to tour India for a four-match Test series in 2022 which will be the only four-match series in the competition. In total, there are 13 two-match Test series, seven three-match Test series and two five and a solitary four-match series. The venue for the final of the event is yet to be decided by the International Cricket Council (ICC). 

Just like the inaugural edition of the WTC, all the top 9 teams will fight it out in 6 Test series each with three at home and three away. None of the series which was postponed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be carried forward to the next cycle of the championship. Once again there will be a big difference between the number of matches played among all the 9 teams. 

India, England and Australia regarded as the big 3 of modern cricket will be the only three teams contesting in four and five-match series. All the other teams will only play a two-match or a three-match series. 

England will play the most number of matches in the league phase by the end of this cycle with 21 matches followed by India and Australia with 19 and 18 matches respectively.

 South Africa will play 15 while the inaugural world Test champions New Zealand will only play a total of 13 matches which is also equal to Sri Lanka and West Indies. Meanwhile, Pakistan will play 14 matches while Bangladesh will be the only team in the competition to play two-match series in each of their six scheduled series. 

In order to ensure that there is no disparity in point allocation which hurts the teams, the ICC has decided to allot an equal number of points for each match. Under the new proposed system which is expected to get a go-ahead at the next chief executive’s committee meeting, each match in the second WTC cycle will comprise a total of 12 points. 

A win will fetch all 12 points while a draw will fetch one third which will be 4 points and a tie will fetch 6 points. Teams with slow over rates will also be docked one point for every over they fall behind. 

The ICC acting chief executive officer Geoff Allardice said that the point system was changed from the inaugural edition to make sure that all teams despite playing different number of matches can get a chance to be compared with anyone at a given stage of the tournament. 

"Instead of each series being worth the same number of points, 120, irrespective of whether the series is played over two Tests or five Tests, the next cycle will see each match being worth the same number of points - a maximum of 12 per match. Teams will be ranked on the percentage of available points they won from the matches they have played. The aim was to try and simplify the points system and to allow teams to be meaningfully compared on the table at any point, though they may have played differing numbers of matches and series,” Alliance was quoted as saying by the ESPNcricinfo.