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World Test Championship Final
India and New Zealand will clash in the first-ever ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final. The 2019-21 WTC final will be in the single Test format but may change in the future.
Many ICC events had begun on a smaller scale before taking their present form. The ICC cricket world cup in 1975 was a 15-match event. Whereas the 2019 ICC cricket world cup was a 48 match event.
There are already talks of expanding the ICC men’s T20 world cup to a 20-team event. It was a 12 team event in 2007 when it started.
An international event gains greater context when top-ranked nations feature in it contesting a set number of fixtures. It seems unfair to declare the winner based on a single test for a two-year-long event.
The biggest hurdle in the expansion of the WTC final is the viewership of the event. There are many small events that run for some months and still attract good viewership. There is no reason for WTC to not do the same.
Some of the future formats can be:
3-match Test series
After the end of the Test, the top two teams could contest in a 3 match test series finals to declare the winner. The Victor of the three-game contest would be named the winner. The Australian tri-series final was held in this format in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
This format would afford the losing side in the first test to bounce back and turn the game in their favor. The fans would also get to see a riveting three-match test series.
Play offs or knock outs
In this format, The top 4 sides in the WTC table could take part In a playoff or knock-out style semi-final match.
The format of the ICC knockout trophy could be borrowed under this category. Here the top 4 teams could participate in two semi-finals and a final.
An alternative to the above could be employing a playoff system similar to the Indian Premier League. This would ensure equal opportunities for the top Teams to secure their spot in the final game.
World Test Cup
This format would include the top six in the WTC table who would be divided into two groups. The topsides from each group would play in the finals. All the sides could have the same number of losses and wins in the groups. So a points system could be implied to determine the leader.