World Test Championship Points Table

The idea of having a Test Championship came up first in 2009. Initially the tournament was planned for 2013 but later on, ICC announced that the Test Championship would not take place until 2017 and that the 2013 tournament would be cancelled. England and Wales, who were supposed to host the tournament were awarded the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

Table of Contents

1. ICC World Test Championship Points Table
2. World Test Championship Points Table Rules
3. India’s Standing in the World Test Championship

However, in 2014, the 2017 tournament was also cancelled and the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy took place instead. Finally, after a decade when the idea of the Championship was first approved, the first edition of the tournament was officially launched by the ICC on 29 July 2019. The first edition will be played between 2019-2021 with a second edition from 2021 to 2023.

The current World Test Championship Standings is given below -

ICC World Test Championship Points Table

*Updated on 2 March 2020

The inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship 2019-2021 started from 1 August 2019. The first match of the Ashes 2019 was the maiden match of the Championship. The tournament features nine Test-playing nations. A total of 72 Test matches will be played during the Championship. The final of the Championship will be played at Lord’s in England on June 2021.

Also see - World Test Championship schedule

The tournament will run over two years and each team will play a Test series against six other teams. Out of these six series, each team will play three each at home and away. Although the teams will play an equal number of series, not all of them play the same number of matches as each series will have two to five Test matches.

Some of the Test series in the Championship are part of already existing longer series like the Freedom Trophy 2019. Some of the competing teams will play additional Test matches against three remaining Test nations who are not part of the Championship. These matches are part of the ICC Future Tours Programme for 2018-2023. This will help the three lowest-ranked Test team to play more Test matches and improve their game.

World Test Championship Points Table Rules

Regarding the point system of the World Test Championship, the ICC decided that the same number of points will be available for each series. The number points per series will not depend on the series length so that the teams that play fewer Tests are not at a disadvantage. Each team will be able to score a maximum of 120 points from each series. The two teams with the most number of points in the World Test Championship points table at the end will play the final at Lord’s.

The points will be awarded for Test match wins and not Test series wins. This has been done to ensure that the points are distributed equally between all the matches in a series rather than depending on the result of one or two matches. As per the World Test Championship points table rule, this will also ensure that points are distributed fairly even in case of a dead rubber matches.

ICC World Test Championship standings break-up explained in detail -

1. As all the series will have two to five matches, each match will offer 50% to 20% of the total points of a series. Therefore a team can get half, one-third, a quarter or one-fifth points of a series after a win depending on the length of the series.
2. A tie is worth half a win and a draw will be worth one-third of a win.
3. Teams not following the required over-rate will have two points deducted from their total at the end of the match.
4. Considering all the various possibilities that could arise when dividing points, 120 was selected as the maximum points in a series, as it can be divided easily in all the cases.
5. In case of a three-match series, the points awarded to each team on a draw will be 13 instead of 13.33.
6. If two teams are tied in the ICC World Test Championship points table, the team with more series wins to their name shall be ranked higher.
7. If the tie is still not broken, then the team with the highest runs per wicket will be ranked above. The runs per wicket ratio is the result of the division of the runs scored per wicket lost and runs conceded per wicket taken.

India’s Standing in the World Test Championship Table

The India National cricket team are on the top of the table after winning every match they have played as a part of the ICC World Test Championship 2019-20. Their first series under the Championship was against West Indies. India won both the matches against them quite easily and pocketed 120 points from the series.

In the home series against the Bangladesh, India won both the matches of the series. India has a total of 360 points now with seven wins in nine matches, the highest of any team.