Historic! India qualify for WTC final after New Zealand beat Sri Lanka in Christchurch

Indian bowler Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates with teammates after the wicket of Australian batter Matthew Kuhnemann during the 5th day of the fourth test cricket match. (Pic Courtesy: PTI)

There was a dozen reason to smile for Team India after the Men in Blue qualified for the prestigious World Test Championship (WTC) final as New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets in a last-ball thriller. India is scheduled to lock horns with Australia in the WTC final at The Oval from June 7. Interestingly, this is the side's second successive entry into the WTC final, with the previous one coming in the inaugural cycle in 2021, which they ultimately lost to New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the loss in the away series dashed Sri Lanka's hopes of sealing a berth in the WTC final. Australia, on the other hand, became the first team to confirm their WTC final berth after defeating India by nine wickets in the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series held in Indore.

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The New Zealand vs Sri Lanka match result abandoned the fourth Test in Ahmedabad from the equation as earlier India had to win the contest to secure their final spot. The Aussies, by virtue of their comprehensive win in Indore, are now sitting atop the WTC table with 68.52 percentage points (PCT).

Only if Sri Lanka had won the contest on Monday and strived for victory in the second Test at Wellington, their percentage would have seen a major leap from 53.33 to 61.11, even higher than India's 60.29 before the start of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

In order to take all the scenarios out of the equation, India had to win the Ahmedabad Test, which would have improved their PCT to 62.5, and in turn they would have retained their second position on the WTC table. However, with the Kiwis acing a record chase of 285 runs on Monday against Sri Lanka, thanks to former captain Kane Williamson's unbeaten and crucial knock of 121, Sri Lanka were left ruing their chances.

(With PTI inputs)