Veteran Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Sri Lanka will remain in the running for a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final if they do a clean sweep against India in the upcoming Test series. He also added that the Lankan players will jump to the fourth spot in the WTC points table in such a scenario.
However, India will take on Sri Lanka in two Tests, with the first game starting in Galle on August 15. While India are placed fifth on the WTC points table with 48.15 percentage points, the hosts are just below them with 41.67 percentage points as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “If we lose 2-0, we will remain at only 39 percentage points and Sri Lanka will jump to 61 percentage points, and they will be No. 4. Sri Lanka will be in the run if they beat India 2-0. Then they have a realistic chance of going forward, or else it’s a so-near-yet-so-far story for them.”
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“If we win this series 2-0, we will reach 57.58 percentage points. If we do a clean sweep, we will gain a little. If we draw the series 1-1, we won’t gain anything because we will be at 48.48 and Sri Lanka will be at 44.44, and the positions will remain as is. Going forward, we have a two-match series in New Zealand, where it’s difficult to win. Even if you lose one match, you lose 50 percentage points. It’s going to be a tough one, and after that, there are five matches against Australia in India. India is in a tough position,” Chopra again shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also stated that Australia have three tough series left and they might need to win 10 of their remaining 14 Tests to keep their WTC final qualification chances alive as well.
“Australia still have 14 matches remaining, which includes two against Bangladesh in Australia. They would win both those, but they play South Africa in South Africa. It’s difficult to win that series and almost impossible to win three out of three. They have four Tests against New Zealand in Australia. It will be difficult to win four out of four,” he again said.
“It means they are going to drop a few points. After that, they have five matches against us. They will have to win around 10 out of 14 to stay in the fray, and that won’t be easy. Winning even one or two Tests in India is a big task. It will be difficult for them to win 10 matches,” he further added.
“South Africa is not in a bad position. The good thing is that they are playing at home. The bad thing is that two of the three oppositions are tough. One is a three-match series against Australia, and the other is a three-match series against England. Getting 100 percent points against them is improbable. It’s not easy for South Africa, but since they are playing at home, they have a significant advantage,” he shared.
“New Zealand have four series left. Two are at home and two are away. Both their home series are against Asian teams – Sri Lanka and India. They will have to back themselves in both those series. They have four away matches against Australia – tough series. They have two away games against Pakistan. Pakistan might make rank turners where you can’t play at all, but they (New Zealand) don’t lose on rank turners. They are not in a bad position,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
