WTC 2021-23: All limited-overs formats are important in tournaments such as the 50-over World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the Asia Cup, the 20-over World Cup, and a variety of other domestic leagues with players from all over the world. Similarly, the ICC thought of arranging a similar multi-nation league competition for the most primitive format of the game, i.e., Test cricket.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) started conducting a 2-year-long complete round-robin format of the Test League, where all 9 participating teams played their other 6 opponents, excluding 2. It started on August 1, 2019, followed by the second edition, which is from August 4, 2021, to March 31, 2023, scheduled to finish with the final on June 20, 2023, which is scheduled to be played in England at The Oval.
The tournament is played over two years, with 69 matches over 27 series scheduled for the league stage, from which the top two teams will advance to a final. Each team is expected to play six test series, with three at home and three away.
WTC 2021-23: Points System
| Match Result | Points received | Contending points | % points |
| Win | 12 | 12 | 100 |
| Tie | 6 | 12 | 50 |
| Draw | 4 | 12 | 33.33 |
| Loss | 0 | 12 | 0 |
1st WTC League Points Table 2019–21
| Position | Team | Series( P/W/L/D) | Matches (P/W/L/D) | Points | %points |
| 1 | India | 6-5-1-0 | 17-12-4-1 | 520/720 | 72.2 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 5-3-1-1 | 11-7-4-0 | 420/600 | 70 |
| 3 | Australia | 4-2-1-1 | 14-8-4-2 | 332/480 | 69.2 |
| 4 | England | 6-4-1-1 | 21-11-7-3 | 442/720 | 61.4 |
| 5 | South Africa | 5-2-3-0 | 13-5-8-0 | 264/600 | 44 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 6-3-3-0 | 12-4-5-3 | 286/660 | 43.3 |
| 7 | Sri Lanka | 6-1-3-2 | 12-2-6-4 | 200/720 | 27.8 |
| 8 | West Indies | 6-1-4-1 | 13-3-8-2 | 194/720 | 26.9 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 4-0-4-0 | 7-0-6-1 | 20/420 | 4.8 |
The highest run-getter in the 2019–21 edition of the World Cup was Marnus Labuschagne with 1675 runs, and the highest wicket-taker was Ravichandran Ashwin with 71 wickets. The Final at Southampton was played between India and New Zealand, where the first innings total for India was 217 and for NZ was 249, while India managed 170 runs in the second innings and NZ had a comfortable win by 8 wickets, scoring 140 runs at the loss of 2 wickets.
WTC 2021-23: Prize Money
| Position | Prize amount |
| Winners | $ 1,600,000 |
| Runners-Up | $ 800,000 |
| Third | $ 450,000 |
| Fourth | $ 350,000 |
| Fifth | $ 200,000 |
| Sixth | $ 100,000 |
| Seventh | $ 100,000 |
| Eighth | $ 100,000 |
| Ninth | $100,000 |
| Total: | $ 3,800,000 |
WTC 2021-23 Schedule
| Team | Scheduled Matches (Total/ Home/ Away) | Was not scheduled to play against |
| Australia | 19/10/9 | Bangladesh and New Zealand |
| Bangladesh | 12/6/6 | Australia and England |
| England | 22/11/11 | Bangladesh and Sri Lanka |
| India | 18/8/10 | Pakistan and West Indies |
| New Zealand | 13/6/7 | Australia and West Indies |
| Pakistan | 14/8/6 | India and South Africa |
| South Africa | 15/7/8 | Pakistan and Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka | 12/6/6 | England and South Africa |
| West Indies | 13/7/6 | India and New Zealand |
WTC 2021-23: League Table
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | Points | % points |
| 1 | Australia | 15 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 136 | 75.56 |
| 2 | India | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 99 | 58.93 |
| 3 | Sri Lanka | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 64 | 53.33 |
| 4 | South Africa | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 76 | 48.72 |
| 5 | England | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 124 | 46.97 |
| 6 | West Indies | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 54 | 40.91 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 64 | 38.09 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 36 | 27.27 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 16 | 11.11 |
Predicted Qualifier of WTC 2023 final
In the current scenario, only Australia, India, and South Africa are left in contention for the WTC final. Australia has almost certainly qualified for the WTC final; the race for second place is now between last year’s runners-up, India, and this year’s favorites, South Africa.
Since Australia didn’t have a clean sweep over the Proteas, India now has to win the 4-match Border-Gavaskar home series against Australia with a margin of 3-0, 3-1, or even 2-0.
Since South Africa has no more matches left before the WTC final, their hopes are pinned on Australia’s tour of India and the Lankan lions’ tour of New Zealand. South Africa’s hopes will be crushed if either of the two teams, India or Sri Lanka, win their respective series, and the only situation in which South Africa can qualify is if both the Aussies and Kiwis emerge victorious in their upcoming series.
But for now, Australia and India seem to be the biggest contenders for the WTC final in 2023.
Also Read:- IPL 2023 Chennai Super Kings: Best CSK Playing XI of this Season 16
