Changes to WTC point structure confusing and difficult to understand, claims Virat Kohli
Kohli questioned the changes made by the ICC to WTC
|Indian skipper Virat Kohli has expressed bewilderment over the ICCâs decision to use âpercentage of pointsâ to evaluate teams in the World Test Championship and termed the change as confusing and difficult to understand. The change, that was made last week, pushed India to second on the WTC table.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been left bemused by the International Cricket Councilâs decision to alter the evaluation criteria for the World Test Championship (WTC) and has termed the change as âconfusingâ and âdifficult to understandâ. Last week, the ICC confirmed that owing to myriad matches either getting cancelled or indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic, teams will be ranked by the âpercentage of pointsâ theyâve earned, instead of the total points, and the change subsequently pushed India to second spot, behind Australia.Â
Addressing the media virtually on Thursday, Kohli expressed surprise and discontentment over the decision and admitted that the change, which came out of nowhere, caught him off guard.
"It is definitely surprising because we were told points are the matter of contention for the top two teams qualifying in the World Test Championship and now suddenly it has become percentage out of nowhere," Kohli told the media ahead of the first ODI.
 "So it's very confusing, very difficult to understand why."
The subsequent decision from the ICC to make the alteration came very late, just half a year ahead of the WTC final, which is scheduled to be played in June 2021. The modification means that India are now at serious threat of losing on a finalâs spot to New Zealand, who in comparison have far easier fixtures to play. Kohli was miffed at the timing of the change and claimed that the ICC have a lot of explanation to do, regarding the changes.
"If these things were explained to us from day one then it would have been easier for us to understand the reasons why such a change has happened. But it has happened out of nowhere. I think further questions about this should be asked to the ICC and understand why this has been done and what are the reasons behind it."
BCCI President Sourav Gangulyâs announcement earlier this week, of India playing 4 Tests against England instead of 5, means that Kohli & Co. will have 9 games remaining in the inaugural WTC cycle, all of which will be against Australia and England.Â
