India to host Australia, New Zealand in next WTC cycle

New Delhi,(TIE) The Indian cricket team will play two tough away series at the start of their 2021-2023 World Test Championship 2 (WTC) campaign, beginning with a five-Test series in England from August 4 and then in South Africa, also this year. However, beyond that India will have it a bit easy as they play Bangladesh away while New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka will come visiting. Like in the previous WTC cycle, India and Pakistan are not scheduled to play any series. In the previous cycle, which was also the inaugural cycle of the WTC India had played New Zealand and Australia away and also visited West Indies. While India lost both the Tests in New Zealand, they won the Test series in West Indies and Australia. In the final played last month, India lost to New Zealand at Southampton by eight wickets. Australia are scheduled to play all their away series against sub-continent teams. They will face India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the overseas legs. At home, they host England this year, and then South Africa and West Indies. England, on the other hand, will play their away series against Australia, West Indies and Pakistan. They host India, South Africa, and New Zealand. The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the changed points system for the second edition of the WTC. Each match of the upcoming WTC will now be contested for the same number of points -- 12 for a win, four for a draw, and six for a tie, a change from the previous system where the same number of points were allocated to each series, divided across the number of matches played. "We received feedback that the previous points system needed to be simplified. The Cricket Committee took this into consideration when proposing a new, standardised points system for each match," said ICC acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice in an ICC statement. "It maintained the principle of ensuring that all matches in a WTC series count towards a team's standing, while accommodating series varying in length between two Tests and five Tests," he said. As in the first edition of the championship, the nine teams will play six series each, three home and three away with the cut-off date being March 31, 2023.