Pat Cummins speaks about the World Test Championship final in reverential tones but what relevance will it be if Australia fail to compete on the current tour of India?
“It felt like a big missed opportunity,” the Australian captain said at the start of Australia’s Test summer, reflecting on the inaugural World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in June 2021 at Southampton’s Rose Bowl.
New Zealand staged an upset for the ages, as they are prone to do, beating India to be crowned the first WTC champions.
This was an enormous and much admired achievement, but does anyone really think New Zealand is the best Test team in the world?
So if Australia are trounced in the remaining three Tests and then beat India at The Oval in friendlier conditions a few months from now, would the Australians feel a little self-conscious receiving the official crowd of World Test Champions?
Losing in India is hardly a disgrace. It’s part of the cricketing circuit for most teams most of the time. India have lost just two of 43 Tests over the past decade at home. They are virtually unbeatable on home soil, perfectly manicured for their spinners as it is.
India won the first Test in Nagpur inside three days.Credit:Getty Images
But India can hardly be labelled home-town bullies as they once were. They have also won their past two series in Australia. While the first came during the Sandpapergate suspension of Steve Smith and David Warner, the second two summers ago was a defining triumph.
Bowled out for just 36 during the first Test in Adelaide, India comprehensively won the second Test in Melbourne by eight wickets, batted out 131 overs in Sydney to comfortably draw the third Test, and then upset Australia with a three-wicket win in Brisbane from a patched-up side hampered by injuries.
That loss cost Australia a place in the inaugural World Test Championship final, and they are yet to cement a place for The Oval this June.
Australia still has the highest WTC ranking with 70.83 points, having won 10 and lost just two Tests in the current two-year cycle, with India (nine wins, four losses) second on 61.67 points and Sri Lanka (five wins, four losses) third on 53.33.
Australian captain Pat Cummins.Credit:Getty Images
However, if Australia loses all four Tests to India and Sri Lanka pinches a victory on their two-Test tour of New Zealand next month, then Australia will miss the final.
The Australians would be devastated but only have themselves to blame.
Cummins believes that initially the Australians didn’t understand the significance of missing the first World Test Championship final.
“I think being new, it probably didn’t hit us until the game was actually played and you saw over there [in England] New Zealand did well and you wish you were there,” Cummins said at the start of the summer.
“It feels like second time around it’s got a little bit more on it. It felt like a big missed opportunity that first one.
“So it certainly gives a bit more context to every series now, something big to play for.”
If this tour continues on its current path, maybe we just have to accept the inevitable moment has arrived. Given India’s population, wealth and obsession with cricket, they are now simply the best.
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