India qualified for their second consecutive ICC World Test Championship final (WTC 2023) thanks to New Zealand defeating Sri Lanka in a last-ball thriller Test in Christchurch on March 13, 2023. Kane Williamson’s unbeaten century helped the Kiwis beat the Islanders by 2 wickets to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.
New Zealand was chasing 285 runs to win despite scoring 373 in the first innings with Daryl Mitchell scoring a century and Matt Henry making a career-best 72. This was in reply to Sri Lanka’s 355 which came thanks to half-centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne (50) and Kusal Mendis (87).
Sri Lanka then conjured up 302 in their second innings thanks to an amazing 115 from Angelo Mathews.
Set 285 to win, Kane Williamson anchored the innings with 121*, while Mitchell contributed once more, with a sublime 81. Though Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya chipped at the wickets, it all came down to the final delivery of the match.
Fernando bowled a short ball, which Williamson missed, but took off for the bye. The keeper threw the ball to the bowler, who scored a direct hit at the bowling end. Replays showed that a diving Kane Williamson made the crease by millimeters as New Zealand won by 2 wickets and went 1-0 up in the series.
Thanks to this win, India was assured of a place in the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7-11, where they will face Australia.
Here is the moment that led India to another WTC final:
BLACKCAPS WIN BY 2 WICKETS!
Catch all the action on-demand on Spark Sport #SparkSport #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/aYg6cpyLLy
— Spark Sport (@sparknzsport) March 13, 2023
Sri Lanka’s Defeat Means They Cannot Go Up In The ICC WTC Points Table Anymore
It was heartbreak for Sri Lanka, as they needed to whitewash New Zealand in the two-Test series to have a chance to qualify for the WTC final. Now, following their loss in Christchurch, even if Sri Lanka wins the next Test, they will only go up to 52.78 points. That will be lower than India’s 56.94 even if India goes on to lose the Ahmedabad Test.
If they draw – as looks most likely – India will finish on 58.80. Australia has already qualified: even if they lose in Ahmedabad, they will end with a percentage of 64.91. Australia and India are the only teams that have won at least twice as many Tests as they have lost in the current WTC cycle (in Tests that counted towards the WTC).