EXPLAINED: How Australia Can Still Fail To Qualify For WTC Final Despite Winning Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australia defeated India by 6 wickets in the Sydney Cricket Ground in the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They thus won the series by a margin of 3-1. Not only did they win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 long years, they also ensured that they qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final, where they are slated to face South Africa in Lord's from June 11. However, there is still a chance that the reigning WTC champions might not qualify for the match at all.

As things stand, Australia have a PCT of 63.73, and no team has the chance to overtake them in the second position. The closest a team can come to this is Sri Lanka, only if they beat Australia by a margin of 2-0 in their upcoming Test Series. In that case, Sri Lanka's PCT will be 53.85, and Australia's will be 57.02.

However, if the Australian team is deducted a total of 8 points across the two Tests vs Sri Lanka due to slow over rate, then Sri Lanka will have a chance to overtake Australia. However, this will only be possible if the Lankans win both their Tests.

Australia were once penalized 10 points after the fourth Test of the 2023 Ashes against England. In the same series England lost a total of 19 points across the two games. Six points were also deducted against Bangladesh earlier this year.

Pat Cummins has said that he will most likely miss the series against Sri Lanka later this year. This is because he would want to stay with his wife as the couple are expecting a child.

“In terms of Sri Lanka, we’ll wait and see. Becky’s hanging on at the moment, so we’ll play it by ear. But most likely, I might struggle to get over there. They (the partners) do sacrifice a lot… so sharing moments like today with them makes it extra special,"

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