The race for the final of the World Test Championship has become very tight and some teams including India are still in the race. Team India has improved its position by starting with the win in Australia and now it would like to strengthen itself further in the second Test to be held in Adelaide. However, before this test, the International Cricket Council has taken action against two teams and has given double punishment to these two teams. These teams are New Zealand and England. The first match of the Test series was played between the two teams in Christchurch, in which the teams of New Zealand and England could not complete the overs on time. Due to this, ICC has now fined both the teams and also deducted some points.

New Zealand's first defeat shocks

In the match played in Christchurch, England defeated New Zealand by 8 wickets. In this match which ended in just 4 days, host New Zealand suffered a crushing defeat. His defeat came at a time when he had recently made a clean sweep of Team India 3-0 on the India tour. In such a situation, better performance was expected from him in his house. Besides, his hopes of reaching the final of the World Test Championship had also increased. But the chances of 2021 Test champion New Zealand are almost over now. New Zealand was already shocked by this defeat and now the situation has worsened due to points being deducted due to slow over rate.

Then ICC also reprimanded

On Tuesday 3 December, the ICC announced punishment on both the teams for not completing the overs. The ICC said in its press release that the umpires deployed in the match found England and New Zealand guilty of slow-over rates. After this, match referee David Boon decided the punishment for both the teams. In this match, both the teams were found 3 overs behind the scheduled time, after which the referee decided to deduct 15 percent match fee of all 11 players of both the teams. Also, according to the rules, one point was deducted for every over behind. In this way New Zealand and England lost 3 points each.

Loss in final race

After this decision, there has been a latest update in the points table of WTC, in which New Zealand has slipped from fourth to fifth place. Whereas England remains at its sixth position. Although England was already out of the race for the final, New Zealand still had a chance left. Now that opportunity also seems to be slipping from his hands. After the latest update, New Zealand has 47.92 percent points and can reach only 55.36 percent, which is much less than India, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. In such a situation, only a miracle can take him to the finals.