Following England captain Ben Stokes' acceptance of the ICC's sanctions on England for maintaining a slow over rate in the third Test against India at Lord's, former India head coach Ravi Shastri gave him a pinch. Due to their slow over rate in the third Test match at Lord's, England had two World Test Championship points taken off them, and each player received a penalty of 10% of their match wages. Without a formal hearing, Stokes admitted guilt and agreed to the penalties.

Since it was the same factor that kept Australia out of the first WTC final against India, Shastri believes it should harm England.

"As Australia discovered during the first round of WTC, it hurts. "You have to be fully aware of all this," Shastri informed ICC, "because they had a slower over rate against India, which cost them second place. New Zealand earned that final."

It should be noted that this is not the first time England has had WTC points deducted. They were never really in the running to make the final since they had the slowest over rate and lost the most points in the previous round of the WTC. At the moment, England is ranked third in the WTC rankings, behind Sri Lanka and Australia.

With a Player of the Match performance at Lord's, Shastri stated that the over rate wouldn't be a concern if Stokes could motivate his side to continue winning games in the same manner.

"They will likely make up for it in some games, but I believe that winning is more important than the over rate. In the previous six months, you can likely attempt to change if you concentrate on winning. Consider how you may reclaim those two points. However, you have to prevail. That is more important. It won't matter if you keep winning, he said.

For what reason was England penalized for having a slow over rate?

With a thrilling 22-run victory, the hosts moved ahead in the five-match series 2-1, but they were two overs short of their goal in a game where the Dukes ball lost its form multiple times and needed to be changed.

The International Cricket Council stated that "England captain Ben Stokes confessed to the infraction and agreed the planned penalty, so there was no need for a formal hearing."

For each over that a team misses in the allotted time, its players lose 5% of their match fees. The squad also loses one point in the World Trade Center.

Following the points deduction, England fell from second to third in the WTC rankings, behind Sri Lanka. The new 2025–2027 cycle's standings are headed by Australia, who earlier this week completed a 3-0 shutout of West Indies.

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