Transition or not, the Indian cricket team has attained a new low in their Test history as they suffered a 0-2 whitewash by South Africa, the reigning ICC World Test Champions, a year after being blanked 0-3 by New Zealand.
Last year, the Kiwis registered their maiden Test series win in India, and recently, it was the Proteas’ first Test series triumph on Indian soil since 2000.
While India lost only four home Test matches from 2013 to mid-2024, with the team becoming almost unbeatable under Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid in Indian conditions, India have already lost five Tests at home in Gautam Gambhir’s tenure.
This dismal period under head coach Gambhir is of historic proportions: not since 1985 had India lost two Test series at home in a space of 13 months.
Both Shastri’s and Dravid’s Test teams reached the ICC World Test Championship finals. And though they lost the finals in 2021 and 2023, to New Zealand and Australia respectively, those sides, under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, dominated the visiting teams.
However, Gambhir’s Test team will now face a much tougher time in the ongoing ICC WTC 2025-27 cycle. India’s route to the ICC WTC Final 2027 has become more challenging after losing 0-2 to South Africa, following on from a 2-2 draw in England and a 2-0 victory over the West Indies at home.
Considering how important home Test match wins are for any team’s chances of reaching the ICC WTC final, it’s certain that India will need victories now away from home as well, which is a difficult ask because they have a series in New Zealand, a place where they failed to win a single Test on their last two trips.
India have slipped to the fifth position in the ICC WTC 2025-27 standings, going below even Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
How Can India Reach ICC WTC Final 2027 After Losing 0-2 Against South Africa?
Yes, India can still reach the ICC WTC final in 2027 if they can earn 78 more points from their remaining nine Test matches in this cycle. This is assuming 60% would be enough for a team to finish in the second spot in the cycle.
India have three more Test series left in the 2025-27 WTC cycle: two Tests in Sri Lanka, two Tests in New Zealand, and a five-match Test series at home against Australia.
India’s PCT (percentage of points won) after the 0-2 whitewash against South Africa is 48.15%. Considering the last two ICC WTC cycles, we can assume that a team with 60-65% will qualify for the final.
In that case, India, who have 52 points, will require 78 more points to finish on 130 points, which will be 60% of the total points available to them, which is 216 since they play 18 Tests in this cycle. (Teams get 12 points for a win and four points for a draw.)
When is India’s next Test series?
India’s next Test series is in August 2026, when they tour Sri Lanka for a two-Test series, followed by another two-match series in New Zealand in October-November. India will want to win both Tests in Sri Lanka and at least one Test match in New Zealand.
Even then, India will be required to beat Australia in at least two or three Test matches, if not more, from the five-Test series in early January 2027 to qualify for the ICC WTC Final 2027. As of now, Australia and South Africa both have a much better chance than India to reach the final at Lord’s in 2027.
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