New Delhi: The official points table of the World Test Championship (WTC), 2023 to 2025, cycle saw a lot of shuffling in the last two days as the table toppers, India, slipped down to sixth position while Pakistan is also in trouble of losing their second spot soon enough.
Two Boxing Day Test matches were played simultaneously in Australia and South Africa, after whose completion, both the table toppers suffered a huge loss in their points percentage as a result of the loss.
India and Pakistan, who were both at number one and two spots, respectively, suffered huge losses in the WTC points table after losing out to South Africa and Australia respectively.
As per the updated points table on Friday, Proteas has claimed the top spot with a 100 per cent points percentage after winning their first match of the 2023-25 cycle.
This Team Though 😍🇿🇦
A Fairytale ending at SuperSport Park for The Dean🧚♀️ #WozaNawe #BePartOfIt #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/w7N89WkHyu
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) December 28, 2023
Australia won their second consecutive test win of the three-match test series against Pakistan and is now placed at number two spot with 50 per cent points.
Wicket 250 for Pat Cummins! 🎉
The third umpire decided the ball flicked Mohammad Rizwan’s sweatband on the way through. #MilestoneMoment | @nrmainsurance | #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/vTuDL5DmNB
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 29, 2023
New Zealand and Bangladesh are placed in the third and fourth place, respectively, with 50 per cent points respectively.
India and Pakistan, who were table toppers three days ago, are now placed at sixth and fifth spots, respectively, with 38.89 and 45.83 per cent points respectively.
West Indies, England and Sri Lanka are the last three teams and are in dire need to turn the table around in their upcoming series, if they wish to stay in contention for the WTC finals spot.
Updated WTC points table (2023-25 cycle)
| S.no | Teams | M | W | L | T | D | Pen | Pts | Pts (%) |
| 1 | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 100.00 |
| 2 | Australia | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 42 | 50.00 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 50.00 |
| 4 | Bangladesh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 50.00 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 45.83 |
| 6 | India | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 38.89 |
| 7 | West Indies | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 16.67 |
| 8 | England | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 15.00 |
| 9 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
WTC Points System
According to the current points system of the WTC, each team are required to have at least three home and three overseas series in a cycle.
Every match carries 12 points, which means a win will give you 12 points, while a loss will give you zero points.
If a match ends in a draw, both teams will be awarded 4 points each, while in the case of a tie, it will be 6 points each.
An abandoned match for any reason will be considered a draw match.
At the end of the cycle, the top two teams with the most points percentage will play in the finals for the WTC crown.
