World Test Championship: India gain 40 points with win over South Africa, maintain top spot

A win in the Vizag Test has got India 40 points and helped them maintained a 100 per cent record in the World Test Championship.

After a clean sweep in the away series against the West Indies, India began their home series with a win against South Africa.

The Proteas, after the loss, are sitting on the sixth spot, ahead of the Windies.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand are ahead of The Ashes rivals - Australia and England - with 60 points each after their two-match series ended in a 1-1 draw.

Points in the WTC are evenly distributed over the number of matches in a series (two to five), the points varying from 60 for each match of a two-Test series to 24 for each match of a five-Test series, like in The Ashes. England and Australia won 48 points for winning two matches each and eight each for the second Test since a draw gives teams one-thirds of the points at stake in a match.

India will start the second Test against South Africa from Thursday (10 October) at Pune. 

The ICC World Test Championship has been introduced to add context to the longest format of the game with nine teams featuring in matches which were decided by the Member countries as per their bilateral agreements. Bangladesh and Pakistan are the other teams in the championship.

The top two teams at the end of the league will advance to the final, which will be played in the UK in June 2021 with the winners crowned the World Test Champions.