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India will finish in the top two of the WTC 2023-25 points table and qualify for the WTC 2025 final if the Rohit Sharma-led side manages to win at least four Tests in Australia.
India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Indian men’s cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has said that the Indian team is not thinking about qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final and instead is more focused on doing well in the five-match Test series against Australia and trying to win the overseas assignment.
India need to win at least four of the upcoming five Tests against Australia to book a place in the WTC 2025 final, which is scheduled to take place at the Lord’s in June next year.
According to Gambhir, every series is important, and the team’s focus during the marquee series Down Under will be to do well.
“Honestly we are not looking at what’s going to happen in the World Test Championship, whether we are going to qualify or not. Every series is important. When you play for your country, when you represent your country, every series is important, irrespective of what has happened in the past. For us, I think it is two good teams playing against each other. We are absolutely keen to go out there and perform and try to win the series,” Gambhir said during India’s pre-departure press conference in Mumbai on Monday (November 11).
India dropped to No. 2 position in the WTC 2023-25 points table after losing back-to-back three Tests against the Kiwis at home. If India win at least four Tests against Australia, then irrespective of how the other eight teams perform in their remaining matches, India will finish in the top two and qualify for the third straight WTC final.
India has played in the WTC final in 2021 and 2023, but on both occasions it ended up on the losing side. In the 2021 final, which was played in Southampton, New Zealand hammered the Virat Kohli-led Indian team by 8 wickets, and in the WTC 2023 final played at the Oval, India went down by 209 runs against the Pat Cummins-led Australian team.
