Even though it is still early days in the 2023-25 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) and the final of this cycle is scheduled to be played in 2025, the current leaders on the WTC table are Pakistan and India. While it is the Babar Azam-led side who are sitting at the top of the table, Rohit Sharma & Co. narrowly trail them to sit at the second place. Their dominant position in the points tally is both a combination of the brand of cricket that they have played as well as a consequence of the slow over-rate penalty imposed on England and Australia.

It is pertinent to note that Australia saw a reduction of 10 points while England parted ways with 19 of their points for maintaining slow over-rate in the recently-concludes Ashes. The five-match series ended in a 2-2 draw. During the course of the Ashes series, England faced multiple over-rate offences, resulting in a deduction of five points in the fifth Test, three in the fourth Test, nine in the second Test, and two in the first Test. The Three Lions with Ben Stokes at the helm of affairs managed to meet the over-rate criteria only once throughout the series.

Also Read | Ashes 2023 Test Series: Australia, England Penalised By ICC - All About It

In comparison, Australia were better than England as their over rate was fine in the four of the five Tests but the one in which they did not maintain a good over rate, it cost them big time as they lost 10 points. This happened to be the rain-affected fourth Test. For the unversed, the ICC has decided to dock teams of points for every over they are found short of the proposed-rate, taking all sorts of delays into account.

As a result of these deductions, Australia's percentage of points (PCT) stands at 30, giving them the No.3 in slot on the WTC points table. England, meanwhile, have got a PCT of only 15 and they are currently at No.5 in the points table, even behind West Indies, who are searching for their maiden win in this WTC cycle.



If India and Pakistan can maintain their lead, will we see a IND vs PAK WTC Final? Only time holds the answer. But definitely it promises to be an exciting prospect as the arch-rivals haven't met in a Test match since December 2007.