ICC World Test Championship Final: Timing, dates, when and where to watch

The Final for the second edition of the ICC World Championship begins on June 7th, with India facing Australia. Here is everything you need to know

The 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) finals will be played between India and Australia from June 7 to 11 at the Oval in London, England. This is the second edition of the championship which began in 2019.

Australia and India qualified as the top two teams in the league standings of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship. The standings were determined by win percentage, as a number of series were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

India had made it to the finals in the first World Test Championship in 2021, however, lost to New Zealand by eight wickets. This will be Australia's first time in the finals.

Winners of the WTC final will receive prize money of $1.6 million, while the losing team will take home $800,000.

Where to watch ICC WTC Final 2023

The ICC WTC Final match will be live streamed on the Disney+Hotstar app and the official ICC website.

The WTC Final match will begin at 3 pm (IST) every match day from June 7 to June 11.

It will be broadcast across Star Network in English and Hindi.

Background on ICC WTC

The ICC World Championship started on August 1, 2019, with the intention to be the premier championship of Test cricket. This is the second edition of the championship as there were several delays in series due to the global pandemic.

According to a report by the Telegraph in 2012, the idea was first proposed in 2009 after a discussion took place between ICC and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The plans were approved in 2010, when the ICC planned to replace the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. However, this plan did not go through as the Champions Trophy was cancelled due to financial issues and the WTC was scheduled for 2017, but would not take place till 2019.

Who participates in WTC

The WTC comprises all current test cricket nations. The ten members include Australia, India, England, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh.

Three members did not participate in the second edition. These were Afghanistan, Ireland, and Zimbabwe.

Australia and India made it to the finals and will be playing for the WTC in the coming week.

India and Australia Squads

Once the names of the squad members have been finalised, any changes in the squad have to be approved by the event technical committee.

The squad for the final teams are the following:

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, and David Warner.

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Ishan Kishan.

On May 8, ICC announced that Ishan Kishan would replace KL Rahul, who could not participate due a thigh injury.