India defeated Australia in the second Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 series in Delhi by 6 wickets and retained the trophy for the third time. This also meant that India went 2-0 up in the series.
Ravindra Jadeja was the Player of the Match for his 10-wicket haul in the match including Test-best career figures of 7/42 in the second innings, as Australia was routed for 113 runs despite being 61/1 overnight.
India overhauled the 115-run target with ease with Cheteshwar Pujara remaining unbeaten on 31 and Rohit Sharma scoring a fiery 31 in 20 balls.
With this victory, India has also narrowed the gap between themselves and a berth in the final of the ICC World Test Champions (WTC 2023) which will be played in the Oval in England from June 7-11.
After the win in Delhi, India's points percentage is 64.06, and while Australia is still on top with 66.67, the gap has narrowed considerably. The only way India will miss out on a spot in the final is if they don't win either of the last two Tests against Australia and if Sri Lanka wins 2-0 in New Zealand.
If India loses their last two Tests to Australia, they will drop to 56.94, while two draws will leave them at 60.65. If Sri Lanka wins both Tests in New Zealand, they will rise to 61.11. But if Sri Lanka wins the series 1-0, they will only end up with 55.55%, which will be lower than India's 56.94 even if they lose the last two Tests against Australia.
Australia will finish up with 59.65% points even if they lose to India 4-0 in the series. For them to miss out on a spot in the WTC final, they will have to lose their last two matches, and Sri Lanka will have to win both Tests in New Zealand.
if Australia draws one of the last two Tests, they will end up on 61.40, which is marginally higher than Sri Lanka's maximum of 61.11, assuming if they don’t lose a point due to over-rate violation.
For Sri Lanka to qualify, they need to win both the Tests in New Zealand, and then hope that the India-Australia series doesn't end up 3-1 or 3-0. If that happens, both India and Australia will finish on a higher percentage than Sri Lanka, even if they win both Tests in New Zealand.
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Or if India ends up winning fewer than three Tests in the series, Australia and Sri Lanka will qualify, and if India wins 4-0, India and Sri Lanka will qualify.
Unfortunately for South Africa, they are out of the race for the qualification of the final. The maximum they can reach is 55.56, while the minimum for both India (56.94) and Australia (59.65) is higher than that.
(ICC/ESPNCricinfo inputs)
