All types of cricketing activities were fully resumed at the start of the year 2021 even with the growing threat of covid-19. Cricket control bodies around the world have agreed to follow health guidelines to reduce the risk of the outbreak. Therefore, the bulk of cricket matches were staged behind closed doors in the first half of the year, with only a few spectators permitted in the second half. The T20 World Cup was clouded in confusion, yet the huge event went on as scheduled. Let's have a look at the top 10 international cricket events from the year 2021.  2021's Most Notable Cricket Events There were some noteworthy cricket moments in the year 2021. As a result, selecting the top ten was difficult. Here are the top ten most notable international cricket incidents in 2021. 10) West Indies frustrate Bangladesh in the Test Series A relatively less-strength West Indian team played a two-match Test series against Bangladesh in February, which was part of the ICC Test Championship. The anticipation was that Bangladesh will win the series against the West Indies to open their account in the Test Championship points table. Despite deploying a full-strength lineup, Bangladesh's terrible run of form in the longer-version continued. The West Indies went on to win both Tests and completed a clean sweep against Bangladesh. Bangladesh were disappointed with the result, especially after winning the ODI series 3-0 against the Caribbean team.  Read Achievements of Bangladesh in sports in 50 years since independence 9) Bangladesh’s T20I home series win against New Zealand Bangladesh were favourite to win the Twenty20 series against New Zealand in September, owing to their excellent recent home record against the Kiwis. Furthermore, the Bangladeshi team came into the match with a lot of confidence, especially after winning a bilateral series against Australia a month ago. Bangladesh defeated New Zealand 3-2 in the T20I series.  8) South Africa fail to seal an ODI series against Ireland The South African national team visited Ireland for a limited-overs series in July. The weather and wicket were quite similar to those in South Africa, and the Proteas team was confident of winning the three-match ODI series. However, the host Irish team astonished the visitors by winning the second match with 43 runs. However, as the first game was washed out, South Africa managed to win the third match and level the series at 1-1.   Read Top 10 Most Memorable Football Moments of 2021 7) Joe Root is on the verge of breaking a record English captain Joe Root has a good chance of breaking a record before the end of the year 2021. This year, Root has 1,544 runs in 25 innings and needs 245 runs to beat Mohammad Yusuf's record of 1,788 runs in a single year. There will be two more matches between Australia and England this year. With his present form, Root has a good chance of breaking the record for most runs scored in a calendar year. If he succeeds, it will be one of the most significant moments of the year 2021.  6) Mohammad Rizwan Shocks the Cricket World  The wicket-keeper batsman of Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan had a fantastic year with the bat in 2021. Along with captain Babar Azam, Rizwan opens the innings for Pakistan in the T20 format. He was sensational in both the T20 World Cup and bilateral series, becoming the first batter to score over 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year. Mohammad Rizwan scored 1,326 runs in 26 innings.  Read Sports Year in Review: A Flashback of the Major Events in 2021 5) India Frustrate host Australia India defeated Australia 2-1 in the four-match Test series, despite the absence of their flamboyant captain Virat Kohli, who was unable to play due to family obligations. In the absence of Virat Kohli, the Ajinkya Rahane-led Indian team defeated Australia in the second and fourth matches to ensure a historic series victory. 

New Zealand have won the first ICC Test Championship after beating India in the final by 8 wickets on Wednesday at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. There was a reserve day for the championship match in case the rain interrupts during the play. Eventually, the match ended on the sixth day. New Zealand were superb on the final day and they were desperate to win the contest. It was a collective effort that guided New Zealand to win the most prestigious ICC tournament. This article discusses how New Zealand crowned champion after beating India in the inaugural edition of the ICC Test Championship final. ICC Test Championship Final Match Report  Rain disrupted every day of the ICC Test Championship Final between New Zealand and India, and the game was not even held on the first day. As a result, the match lasted till the reserve day.New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson opted to bowl first in a swinging condition at the Rose Bowl ground.  The Kiwi pacers were excellent in line and length in the first innings, with neither bowler conceding more than 3 runs per over. Especially, Kyle Jamieson was outstanding in terms of accuracy. He took five wickets for 31 runs, including Rohit Sharma, Rishab Pant, and Captain Virat Kohli. Read BAN vs AUS: How Ashraful, Shakib shocked Australia India were bowled out for 217 after playing 92.1 overs. Ajinkya Rahane was the top scorer (47) for team India, while Virat made 44 runs.  In response, New Zealand scored 249 runs to take a crucial 32-run lead over India in the first innings. Devon Conway led the way with 54 runs, while Captain Kane Williamson chipped in with 49. Fast Bowler Mohammad Shami picked up the highest 4 wickets for India. India had hoped to bat out the whole day on the final day but were bowled out for 170 after the drinks break in the second session. Rishab Pant scored the highest 41 runs for India, while Tim Southee claimed the most four wickets for New Zealand.  Read BAN vs Zim 2021: BCB May Use the Zimbabwe Series as an Opportunity to Find New Talents New Zealand had nearly 50 overs to reach the 139-run winning target. Thanks to 96* runs unbeaten stand between Kane Williamson (52) and Ross Taylor (47) guided New Zealand to the victory in the third session of the sixth day. Spinner Ravi Ashwin snatched both the wickets for India. Pacer Kyle Jamieson was named player of the match after taking seven wickets in the match. Top Performers in the Inaugural ICC Test Championship We saw some incredible performances and unforgettable matches over the course of the two-year-long ICC Test Championship. Here we mentioned some of the top performers in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Most Runs  Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne was the most runs scorer in the Test Championship tournament, He made 1,675 runs in 23 innings with an average of 72.82. England’s Joe Root (1,660) and Aussie middle-order batsman Steven Smith (1,341) came in second and third respectively on the list. Read Who was The Best Captain of Bangladesh Cricket team? Most Wickets India’s off-spinner Ravi Ashwin had the most wickets in the tournament. He picked up 71 wickets with an average of 20.33 in 26 innings. Australia’s Pat Cummins (70) and England’s Stuart Broad (69) were among the top three wicket-takers in the tournament. High Scores  Australia’s David Warner was the only player to score 300 runs in an innings in this tournament. His unbeaten 335* runs against Pakistan was the highest innings of the competition, followed by Zak Crawley (267) and Virat Kohli (254*). Best Bowling Figures  Lankan bowler Lasith Embuldeniya's 7/137 wickets haul against England was the best bowling figure in an innings in the championship. Ravi Ashwin (7/145) and Jasprit Bumrah (6/27) finished second and third respectively on the list. Read:DPL Super League: Abahani overpower Mohammedan Bottom Line  Before winning the Test championship, New Zealand’s biggest achievement on the international stage was winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000. The Kiwis played two back-to-back 50-over World Cup finals in 2015 and 2019 but lost both the finals against the arch-rivals Australia and England respectively. So, New Zealand were desperate to win a major ICC tournament prior to the ICC Test Championship Final against India, and they finally have done it. This New Zealand team is arguably the best ever in their cricket history and they deserve a lot of credit. Read BAN vs. ZIM 2021: Individual Milestones expected to Reach

The much-anticipated first ICC Test Championship final will finally take place in the third to fourth week of June, after overcoming obstacles such as the fear of coronavirus outbreak, scheduling ambiguity, the proper implementation of the points system, and a slew of other challenges. The top two teams in the ICC Test rankings India and New Zealand will compete in the final of the first edition of the tournament. From that perspective, the best two Test teams of the competition will meet in the championship match. Who will win the ICC Test Championship in 2021 is discussed in this article. How the journey of the ICC Test Championship started The ICC (International Cricket Council) believes that interest in Test cricket is fading because of the popularity of One Day International as well as twenty20 format. They launched the ICC World Test Championship in 2019 in order to raise the interest in the longer version format among the global cricket fans.  Read: Bangladesh's Predicted XI: If ODI and Test Teams Played on the Same Day As per some studies, cricket fans are becoming more interested in this format after the launch of the ICC Test Championship, as there is a possibility of winning a trophy. The International Cricket Council has been working on popularizing Test cricket for a long time. They intended to do that by having a new World Cup for the longer version format, similar to the ICC ODI and T20 World Cup. After being pushed back twice, the two-year-long Test Championship tournament officially began on August 1, 2019, with the Ashes series between England and Australia. The series eventually ended 2-2. A notable number of Test series were later canceled due to the outbreak of pandemic covid-19 but not the first ICC World Test Championship.  The participant teams of the championship The top nine teams in the ICC Test rankings have taken part in this Test championship. India, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the West Indies, and Bangladesh are among the teams competing. It's also important to keep in mind that the Test championship's inaugural season does not include the teams from Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, or Ireland. Each one of the nine teams was set to play six series, three at home and three away but not all the series was held because of Coronavirus. Each series consists of two to five matches.To put it another way, each team had the same number of series to play, but not the same number of matches. Every match in the two-match series is worth 60 points, while each match in the five-match series is worth 24 points. If the match is tied, half points are added, and if the match is a draw, one-third point is added. According to FTP fixtures, the tournament would feature 71 Tests across 27 series, and the top two teams in the point table would play the final at Lord's in June 2021. There were expected to be 72 matches in all, including the final one.  Read: Ban vs SL 2021: How Bangladesh can clinch the ODI series against Sri Lanka The way India and New Zealand secured the final of the tournament The Indian cricket team played six series in this tournament, winning five and drawing the other.They whitewashed the Windies (2-0), South Africa (3-0), and Bangladesh (2-0) in their first three Test Championship series. But handed a 2-0 series defeat against New Zealand in early 2020. India came back strong during their away tour in Australia last year December and clinched the series 2-1. India also won the home series against England by 3-1. India won a total of 520 out of 720 points and finished top of the ICC World Test Championship points table. On the other hand, New Zealand played five series, winning three, drawing one, and losing one.New Zealand has had a relatively quiet start in this Test Championship. They tied their first series (1-1) against Sri Lanka and lost their second series (3-0) to their arch-rivals Australia in December 2019. New Zealand then bounced back with victories over India (2-0), the Windies (2-0), and Pakistan (2-0).The Blackcaps came second in the ICC Test Championship points table with 420 points out of 600 to their name.  Read: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka ODI series 2021: Expected personal milestones to Reach Who is the favorite to win the ICC Test Championship 2021? New Zealand will have a slight advantage in the upcoming final even though India finished top in the group stage points table. New Zealand's confidence will be boosted ahead of the final by England's bouncy wicket, familiar weather, excellent pace attack, and batting skills of the lower order. On the other hand, India would benefit if a sporting wicket is made in the Rose Bowl. In big matches, captains usually want to bowl first if they win the toss. However, if the pitch is green, the captains may choose to bowl in the hopes of quickly picking up wickets. In that case, the Kiwis will enjoy more advantages. The players are usually under a lot of pressure to play in the final because of the high expectations. So, it doesn't matter who is stronger on paper because you would not be able to prevail if you are unable to play at your best. Overall, the two teams will face off in a tough battle. The ICC Test Championship final will be held at the Rose Bowl cricket ground in Southampton from the 18th to the 22nd of June this year. The two participating teams will be declared joint champions if the final is tied or a draw.  Read: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka series 2021: ODI Ranking Prediction Verdict There is a common saying that no matter how strong the competitor is, anyone can win the final if they give it their all. Predicting who will win the ICC Test Championship 2021 is difficult because both teams have equal chances. However, since the top two teams are competing in the final, we can expect a thrilling battle. In that case, the captain who wins the toss will gain a competitive advantage, and the pitch will also have a major impact on the outcome of the match. But neutral cricket fans would want the best team to lift the trophy.