The World Test Championship final is around the corner. The Indian cricket team has sharpened its swords and honed its skills to meet New Zealand at Southampton on June 18th, 2021 for a final battle. 

If one takes a look at India’s journey to the WTC final, big wins against prominent teams stand out as a speciality. The motivated group has produced some stellar performances throughout the championship. We’ve got India in numbers at the World Test Championships to give us a glimpse of the team’s dominating performance. 

The biggest wins 

India has seen massive victories through the WTC, be it by innings, by wickets or by runs. In fact, the team sits at the top on all the three lists in the World Test Championship so far. 

The largest win by runs is a record held by India. This came against the West Indies at North Sound in the very first Test that India played in this championship mostly because of a well made century from Ajinkya Rahane. India won by 318 runs. 

The biggest win by wickets is jointly held by India, South Africa and New Zealand, all by the whole 10 wickets. For India, this win was against England in Ahmedabad, where wickets fell like a pack of cards. Rohit Sharma’s 66 and Axar Patel’s 11 wickets across the innings took the team across the winning line easily. 

The largest innings victory also has India in the pole position. This was achieved when India defeated South Africa in a 4-day game, with Rohit hitting a double century. The team won by an innings and 202 runs. 

Most 100s for India 

Rohit Sharma has the most centuries for India in the World Test Championships. He’s only played 11 games and has a century in four of those with two more fifties in his pocket. And to think of it, he’s only been opening for India in Tests since late 2019! Oh, the anticipation of what lies ahead given the Hitman is going to open consistently for India is definitely exciting. 

Overall, he is just behind Australian Marnus Labuschagne (5) and Pakistan’s Babar Azam (4 in 10 games). Here’s hoping he tops the list after the WTC final. 

Best bowling average for a team 

The big wins by runs for India - 318 runs vs South Africa, 317 runs vs England, 257 runs vs West Indies and the others show that the Indian bowlers have done exceptionally well in the WTC. 

This shows in the bowling average for India. At 22.57, India has the best bowling average among teams in the WTC. This means that for every 22.57 runs conceded by India, an opponent’s wicket falls. Impressive, isn’t it? 

Most runs for India 

At 1095 runs, Ajinkya Rahane has the most runs for India, and is at the fifth position overall. Rohit Sharma follows immediately after him at 1030 runs. The latter’s average is an impressive 64.37 in the WTC. 

Other top run scorers for India are Virat Kohli (877), Mayank Agarwal (857) and Cheteshwar Pujara (818). 

Most wickets for India 

Yet again in the impressive list of things the Indian bowlers have done is being (almost) at the top of the most wickets list. For India, Ravichandran Ashwin has been the most dangerous, taking 67 wickets in his13 games. He is only 4 wickets away from becoming the highest wicket taker in the inaugural WTC, and we sure hope he crosses that line. 

Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami both have 36 wickets each, with Bumrah following closely at 34. Hopefully, these speedsters will make the most of the English summer and add more wickets to their tally. 

Highest partnership for India 

The highest partnership for India is worth 317 runs and came in the game played at Visakhapatnam against South Africa. Rohit (176) and Mayank Agarwal (215) were involved in this triple century stand that was one of the finest that the world saw in the WTC. 

Overall, this partnership stands in the fifth position for the biggest by runs, but was totally worth its weight in gold. Rohit (212) and Rahane’s (115) 267 run partnership comes second for India. This was against South Africa in Ranchi. 

So far, India has fared phenomenally at this Test challenge. They’ve faced every opponent head on and given their best to bring about sensational results, as the numbers speak. 

India’s journey to the final has been a definite fairytale and we, the fans, immensely desire for a “happily ever after” ending for the same. We can’t wait to see the final kick off at Rose Bowl to decide the ultimate Test champions!