World Test Championship 2023-25 Points Table: India Dented Heavily On WTC Standings After Suffering Loss In 1st Test

After losing the first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad to England, Rohit Sharma-led India have slipped to fifth spot in the WTC 2023-25 points table.

Indian team. (Image: ANI)

India have suffered heavily in the World Test Championship (WTC 2023-25) standings after the loss in the first Test vs England. This was the first time in many years that India lost a Test match after getting a lead of over 100 runs in the first innings. Rohit Sharma and Co were done in by the brilliance of Ollie Pope and Tom Hartley, who had a poor outing in the first innings but came back strongly in the second.

Pope hit a beautiful 196 as Hartley picked up a seven-for in the second innings to stun India. As a result of the loss, India have slipped from second spot to the fifth spot in the WTC standings. The Indian team had jumped to the top of the table after winning the Test vs South Africa recently. Then, Australia blanked Pakistan 3-0 to replace India at the top. But now, after India lost to England in Hyderabad, they have slipped to fifth spot. Australian maintain their stranglegold at the top despite the loss to West Indies in 2nd Test. They have win percentage of 55 while South Africa are second with win percentage of 50.

New Zealand are on third spot followed by Bangladesh and India, who have win percentage of 43.33 and 26 points. Pakistan are below India followed by West Indies, England and Sri Lanka.

Check Updated WTC 2023-25 Standings after India lost to England and West Indies beat Australia:

India have four more Tests left to make a comeback in the series vs England. They did start as favourites but the pressure is right back on India again as they look to return to winning ways at home. The second Test starts in Visakhapatnam.

It will be interesting to see what changes India make for the 2nd Test. One of them could be swapping Ravindra Jadeja for Kuldeep Yadav. Jadeja is injured. He pulled his hamstring while batting in the second innings. It will be interesting to see whether Jadeja is able to recover from the injury to play the next match.  If not, Kuldeep, the left-arm wrist spinner, is an ideal replacement. Remember that Kohli is not available even for the second Test. He is likely to return by the third Test match.