The ICC on Friday announced the prize money for the winners and runners-up of the World Test Championship final between India and Australia to be played at The Oval in England from June 7 to 11, with June 12 as the reserve day. The ICC said the Australia-India WTC final will be a big incentive for both teams as apart from crowning glory in the longest format of the game, the winners will also pick up $1.6 million as the winner’s prize. The losing finalists will take home $800,000.
The tournament prize money is the same as the inaugural edition of the championship ICC World Test Championship 2019-21 totaling $3.8 million.
The Kane Williamson-led New Zealand side were rewarded $1.6 million in addition to the scintillating Mac in Southampton two years ago thanks to an eight-wicket win over India in the six-day final.
All nine participants in the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship will receive a share of the $3.8 million purse. South Africa earned $450,000 by finishing third in the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship rankings.
England, who picked up an aggressive style of play later in the two-year cycle, finished fourth on the table – a prize of $350,000.
Sri Lanka, who were in contention for a place in the finals before their series defeat in New Zealand, have slipped to fifth place. Their share of the prize money is $200,000.
Sixth-ranked New Zealand, seventh-ranked Pakistan, eighth-ranked West Indies and ninth-ranked Bangladesh will each receive $100,000.
India begins training for the WTC finals
The first batch of Indian players including Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav landed in England early along with the support staff led by coach Rahu Dravid. Under the watchful eye of Dravid, batting coach BVikram Rathour and coach Soham Desai, the Indian cricketers had their first training session on Thursday.
The rest of the Indian cricketers including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are scheduled to travel to England after the IPL 2023 is over.
Senior-pro Cheteshwar Pujara has been in England for the past few weeks playing county cricket.
This will be India’s second attempt to win the Test mace in as many editions. They were beaten by New Zealand in the final of the last edition under Kohli.
