Team India will play Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in the final of the World Test Championship at Ageas Bowl in Southampton. The two teams have faced each other in 59 Tests, with India bagging 21 wins and the Kiwis emerging victorious on 12 occasions. Twenty-six games have resulted in draws. 

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Playing six series in two years, the Indian team topped the WTC table with 520 points, winning 72% of their matches. Virat Kohli and company won 12, lost four and drew one match in the championship. 

Here is India’s journey to the final:

Team India kicked off the WTC in the Caribbean, where they beat West Indies 2-0. The hosts lost the opening Test by 318 runs while they suffered a 257-run defeat in the 2nd match.

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Ravi Shastri’s men then played South Africa in a five-match Test series. Riding on Rohit Sharma’s 529 and Mayank Agarwal’s 340 runs, India won the series 3-0. 

Bangladesh were the next victims of the then-World No 1 team. India played their first pink-ball test against Tamim Iqbal’s men. Virat Kohli’s side dominated the two-match series and whitewashed the visitors. 

It was during India’s tour of New Zealand (2020) that the men in blue suffered their first defeat in the WTC. The Kiwis won the series 2-0. 

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The team played their next Test after nine months. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, the Indian team toured the Kangaroo island. The Test series started on a shocking note as India lost by eight wickets. The visitors were bundled out for 36 runs in the second innings. India then came back and pulled off an epic series win. 

India then defeated England in a four-match Test series at home, sealing their spot in the WTC final.