Mumbai: The strange manner in which South Africa qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final and then surprised Australia at Lord's last week may have alerted team managements throughout the cricketing world to the prospect of a novel approach to winning the mace: where playing less means more.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced Tuesday that the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle will use the current percentage points system to reduce the effects of teams having uneven match distributions.

South Africa's captain Temba Bavuma, reveling in his newly gained cult status, would admit that it would be more difficult to defend the title. With two of their home series against Australia and England lasting three Tests, the Proteas will play 14 Tests instead of 12. Concluding the cycle with consecutive two-Test home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka might be very different.

Additional Tasks for the Big Three

However, Australia (22), England (21), and India (18) will all play significantly more Tests than 14. The richest cricket boards have made it very difficult for their clubs to succeed. A 5-Test series is only played among the Big Three countries.

Under a young captain, India's changing squad is given the most difficult challenge to start with: a five-Test series against England. In order to counterbalance any drawbacks, India must win the subsequent home series against South Africa and the West Indies. As both are two-Test series, the hosts cannot afford to drop any points. India's away Tests next year are also brief, with two each against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, against whom they have a poor record.

India must conclude the cycle with a convincing home series victory over Australia in order to reach their third final in four tries. India will need to maintain its dominance with the spin assault in this five-Test series once more. But will it be as sharp in another 18 months, with R. Ashwin retired and Ravindra Jadeja aging? Australia will be keeping an eye on it.

Australia will have to take the difficult route as they prepare to hit the reset button due to their old squad. Their home series features the prestigious Ashes and a four-Test battle against New Zealand. They will try to complete the two-test series against Bangladesh at home and the three-Test series against the West Indies away, despite two challenging away matches to India and South Africa.

England will try to get the most out of their series against India given their dismal away Ashes history. Fifteen years have passed since England last triumphed in a Test match in Australia. It won't be easy to defeat New Zealand and Pakistan at home or South Africa away. A two-test tour of Bangladesh is their only gentle series.

In England, Test cricket has undoubtedly seen a revival of interest thanks to Bazball. However, if England's aggressive approach to batting earns them victories in various conditions, this will become a successful formula.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who began the new cycle in Galle on Tuesday to a small audience, are playing the fewest Tests (12) in this cycle. However, Bangladesh lacks the depth to assert that they deserve to advance to the championship match. Test cricket is on an equally poor footing in the West Indies (14 Tests) as it is in New Zealand, which will play 16 Tests and, as usual, discover a method to compete.

Dark Horse in Pakistan

Pakistan has the highest likelihood of replicating South Africa in the upcoming cycle. Two of their three away series are two-test tours of Bangladesh and the West Indies. Their most challenging task is a tour of England that consists of three Tests. If they can figure out how to overpower South Africa, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka during six home Tests, they may take advantage of the WTC model's timetable. However, a reboot is required for that to occur. In the last cycle, Pakistan came in last out of nine teams.

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