Many scheduled matches in the first season of the ICC Test Championship were canceled due to the novel coronavirus. New Zealand eventually won the inaugural ICC Test Championship in June, defeating India by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's Cricket Ground. After a month off, the second edition of the tournament kicked off with a series between England and India in the first week of August. The two-year championship will end on March 31, 2023. Bangladesh's campaign would most likely begin with a series against Pakistan. The details of the ICC Test championship 2021-2023 have been discussed in this article.  ICC Test Championship 2021-2023: Points System and Number of Series The ICC has made several important changes to the points allocation and deduction for the second season of the ICC Test Championship. Read T20 Ranking : How Bangladesh Can Become No. 5 T20I Team at the End of the New Zealand series? In the first edition, every Test series was worth 120 points and those points were evenly distributed between the matches. In a five-match series, a team could have earned 24 points for winning a Test, but a team could have gained 60 points for winning a two-match series. For the 2021-2023 cycle, a win will now be worth 12 points, a draw will be worth four points, and a tie will be worth six points. As a result, a five-Test series will have a total of 60 points available, while a two-Test series will have a maximum of 24 points. The standings will be decided by the percentage of available points earned, like in the previous edition of WTC. Because of these changes, the points table doesn't affect by the cancellation of any matches or series for any reason. Read 100-Ball Cricket Match: Southern Brave Win Inaugural Tournament This year's championship features nine Test-playing nations, like in previous editions. Each team will play a total of six series (3 home series and 3 away series). According to the ICC's calendar, England will play the most Tests with 22, followed by India (19), Australia (18), and South Africa (15). New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies each of the four teams will play 13 Test matches. Bangladesh will compete in 12 Test matches. Bangladesh’s Tentative Fixtures for ICC Test Championship 2021-2023 Bangladesh will begin their ICC Test Championship campaign against Pakistan in November this year after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Sri Lanka will play Bangladesh in a two-match series in December. Read BAN vs. NZ 2021: How Bangladesh Can Clinch the T20I Series Against New Zealand Bangladesh are scheduled to play New Zealand in a Test series at the start of 2022. They will play this series in New Zealand. Bangladesh will travel to South Africa in March 2022 for a two-match WTC. Bangladesh will also play West Indies in their last away WTC series in mid-June. Bangladesh will most likely play India in their last home series of the ICC World Test Championship in November 2020. It should be noted that all of Bangladesh's series are two-match affairs. Read BAN vs. NZ T20I Series 2021: Bangladesh Squad Analysis Bangladesh’s tentative ICC Test Championship 2021-2023 fixtures Date Fixture Matches November, 2021 Bangladesh vs. Pakistan (Home) 2 Tests December, 2021 Bangladesh vs. Sri Lanka (Home) 2 Tests January, 2022 New Zealand vs. Bangladesh (Away) 2 Tests March, 2022 South Africa vs. Bangladesh (Away) 2 Tests June, 2022 West Indies vs. Bangladesh (Away) 2 Tests November 2022 Bangladesh vs. India (Home) 2 Tests Read ICC T20 World Cup 2021: Dubai to Host Epic India-Pakistan Group Stage Match Bottom Line The second edition of the ICC Test championship will be held from August 4, 2021 to March 31, 2023. The ICC has made several changes to the points system in order to improve the competition. Hopefully, cricket fans will be excited about the new points system. Bangladesh did not win a single match in the inaugural edition of the competition. So, Bangladesh's main objective would be to win at least a match in the competition. They have a chance to win their first match in the ICC Test Championship 2021-2023 in the forthcoming series against Pakistan in November. Read ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021: Who Are Favourites?

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.