The 2nd edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) is set to conclude with an exciting finale to played between the top-2 Test teams in the world- India and Australia at the Oval starting on the 7th of June. While Australia finished at the top of the league stages that panned out over the last 2 years, India came in second to clinch the finalist position in their very final series.
These 2 sides met recently a couple of months ago in a Test series held in India where the hosts came top with the score line reading 2-1. As a result, these 2 giants of the modern game will play each other in a bid to attain a supremacy in the longest format of the game.
India ended up as the runners-up in the first cycle of the WTC and would want to make it one better while Australia, the most successful cricket team in the world will look to add a WTC title to their already glittering trophy cabinet that includes many accomplishments in limited overs cricket. You can find the complete stats of the first cycle of WTC here.
Coming to the 2021-23 WTC cycle, it was played in the same pattern as the inaugural edition where teams played 6 series, split into 3 series home and away each. 9 prominent Test teams excluding Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe participated in the 2nd edition spanning close to 2 years.
With an eye on the finals, let us look how things went ahead in the 2nd cycle of WTC in terms of important statistics. First let us dwell on to who has scored the most runs in this WTC cycle.
Most Runs in WTC 2021-23
| NAME | MATCHES/INNINGS | RUNS | AVERAGE | HIGH SCORE | 100s/50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Root (Eng) | 22 / 40 | 1915 | 53.19 | 180* | 8/6 |
| Usman Khawaja (Aus) | 16 / 28 | 1608 | 69.91 | 195* | 6/7 |
| Babar Azam (Pak) | 14 / 26 | 1527 | 61.08 | 196 | 4/10 |
| Marnus Labuschagne (Aus) | 19 / 33 | 1509 | 53.89 | 204 | 5/5 |
| Jonny Bairstow (Eng) | 15 / 28 | 1285 | 51.40 | 162 | 6 /2 |
Key insights from the above stats:
Joe Root, the former England skipper, continued his prolific run, finishing up as the leading scorer in this WTC Cycle. Root amassed a whopping 1915 runs from 40 innings he played, and he averages 53.19 with eight centuries to his name (the most by any player in this cycle). You can check Root’s year-by-year batting statistics here to understand how he has been super successful lately.
Usman Khawaja, the comeback man of Australia, comes in 2nd position with 1608 and has the 3rd best average (69.91) among all who have scored more than 500 Test runs in this cycle. The best batting average mention should go to Kane Williamson, who averages 75.2, scoring 752 runs in this cycle.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has turned a new leaf in his Test career by ending the league stages of this WTC as the 3rd highest leading run-getter and could just get pipped by Marnus Labuschagne, who has scored 1509 and has one more game up his sleeve.
Jonny Bairstow, the pioneer of Bazball, has whopped six centuries in just 28 innings.
Ben Stokes has hit the most sixes (28) in this WTC cycle, and it came in just 32 innings.
Likewise, Joe Root has the most fours in this cycle, with 217 boundaries to his credit. He also tops the list of most runs in WTC history with 4050 runs and the most number of centuries with 11 100s next to his name.
Rishabh Pant of India has the best strike rate among all the batsman (min. 500 runs). He was striking at a rate of 80.81 per 100 balls and accumulated 848 runs in this WTC cycle.
Most Wickets in WTC 2021-23
| NAME | MATCHES/INNINGS | WICKETS | AVERAGE | BEST BOWLING | 10w/5w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan Lyon (Aus) | 19 / 32 | 83 | 26.97 | 8/64 | 1/5 |
| Kagiso Rabada (SA) | 13/ 22 | 67 | 21.05 | 6/50 | 0/3 |
| Ravi Ashwin (Ind) | 13 / 26 | 61 | 19.67 | 6/91 | 0/2 |
| James Anderson (Eng) | 15 / 28 | 58 | 20.37 | 5/60 | 0/2 |
| Ollie Robinson (Eng) | 13 / 25 | 53 | 20.75 | 5/49 | 0/2 |
Key insights from the above stats:
Nathan Lyon tops the bowling charts with a whopping 83 wickets in the two years, including five five-fors and a ten-wicket haul. He has followed a decent first edition, where he claimed 56 wickets, with an even better 2nd edition. Overall, Lyon is the leading wicket-taker regarding WTC, with 139 wickets in 59 innings across the editions.
Ravichandran Ashwin of India comes in the 2nd position for the highest tally of wickets in WTC history with 132 wickets (71 in the first and now 61), and he is just behind his direct rival in the WTC Final, Nathan Lyon. Check Ashwin’s year-by-year wicket-picking analysis here.
The other three spots go to the pacers, and 2 of them come from England, James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, despite not qualifying for the summit clash. Kagiso Rabada of SA comes in 2nd with 67 wickets, to Kitty with three 5-wicket hauls.
Nathan Lyon has bowled the most maiden overs in this WTC cycle with 192 no-run overs, while Scott Boland (2.18) has the least economy rate in the edition. The pacer also has the best bowling average, with 13.42 in this cycle.
Highest Scores in WTC 2021-23
| Name | Score | Opponent | Venue | Year |
| Tom Latham (NZ) | 252 | Bangladesh | Christchurch | 2022 |
| Kane Williamson (NZ) | 215 | Sri Lanka | Wellington | 2023 |
| Dinesh Chandimal (SL) | 206* | Australia | Galle | 2022 |
| Marnus Labuschagne (Aus) | 204 | West Indies | Perth | 2022 |
| Steve Smith (Aus) | 200* | West Indies | Perth | 2022 |
| Kane Williamson (NZ) | 200* | Pakistan | Karachi | 2022 |
| Henry Nicholls (NZ) | 200* | Sri Lanka | Wellington | 2023 |
Key insights from the above stats:
Three players are tied for the 5th spot as the legendary duo of Kane Williamson and Steve Smith, along with Henry Nicholls, have an unbeaten score of 200 in this WTC cycle.
Kane Williamson is the only player in this WTC to score more than one double-century. He did so against two top Asian countries, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Tom Latham has the best score of this WTC cycle which is 252 against Bangladesh at Wellington. Incidentally, this was the final Test match for NZ legend Ross Taylor, and Tom himself led the side without the then-regular skipper Kane Williamson.
Along with them, David Warner is the only other batsman to have made a double century in this WTC cycle, but he was dismissed. Warner scored his Test double vs South Africa at the MCG.
You can read in detail the five highest individual scores mentioned here in this article.
Best Bowing Figures in WTC 2021-23
| NAME | INNINGS FIGURES | OPPONENT | VENUE | YEAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajaz Patel (NZ) | 10/119 | India | Mumbai | 2021 |
| Sajid Khan (Pak) | 8/42 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 2021 |
| Nathan Lyon (Aus) | 8/64 | India | Indore | 2023 |
| Matt Henry (NZ) | 7/23 | South Africa | Christchurch | 2022 |
| Keshav Maharaj (SA) | 7/32 | Bangladesh | Durban | 2022 |
Key insights from the above stats:
Ajaz Patel became only the 3rd bowler in Test history after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble claimed all ten wickets in an innings. He did so against India at his place of birth in Mumbai. He registered mind-blowing figures of 10/119 in the first innings of the Test but ended up on the losing side.
Sajid Khan and Nathan Lyon claimed 8-fers in their respective outings against Bangladesh and India. They ended up on the winning side.
Ten bowlers have claimed 10-wicket match hauls as opposed to only 6 in the inaugural edition of the WTC.
The best bowling effort in a match goes to Ajaz Patel of New Zealand, who took 14/225 against India in Mumbai.
You can read in detail the five best bowling figures mentioned here in this article.
Other statistical highlights from the WTC 2021-23:
Ravindra Jadeja is by far the best all-rounder in this WTC cycle, taking 43 wickets with a 10-wicket haul included and scoring 673 runs from 12 Tests at an average of over 37 with a highest score of 175* against Sri Lanka at home.
Alex Carey of Australia has the most number of dismissals behind the wickets with 62 scalps (60 catches and two stumpings)
England tops the list of the highest total in an innings with 657 runs which they scored against Pakistan at Rawalpindi. (Check here the teams with most 600+ scores in Test cricket history)
Bangladesh got bowled out for 53 runs, the lowest team total in this WTC cycle.
