WTC India Schedule: Team India Must Wait 9 Months for Next Test After Crushing 2–0 Defeat

WTC India Schedule:
After a humiliating 2–0 whitewash at home against South Africa, India has dropped to fifth place in the WTC 2025–27 points table. Under Rishabh Pant’s stand-in captaincy, India lost the second Test by 408 runs. The team will now not play another Test for nine months — their next red-ball series will begin in August 2026 against Sri Lanka.

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India’s disappointing run in the current World Test Championship cycle has taken another major blow. South Africa defeated India 2–0, completing a rare whitewash on Indian soil. The second Test ended in a crushing 408-run defeat, raising serious questions about the team’s red-ball readiness and the leadership group under coach Gautam Gambhir.

India drops to 5th in WTC standings

With this loss, South Africa climbed to second place, while India slipped to fifth on the WTC 2025–27 points table. India’s dream of reaching the WTC final at Lord’s has become significantly more difficult, as they will now require almost all remaining Test matches to go in their favour.

So far in the WTC cycle, India has played 9 Tests — winning 4, losing 4, and drawing 1. They began with a 2–2 draw against England, followed by a 2–0 win over West Indies. But the 0–2 defeat to South Africa has pushed the team backward.

What’s next for Team India?

After the Test series loss, India will now face South Africa in ODIs and T20Is, followed by a limited-overs series against New Zealand. Once that concludes, India will directly shift focus to the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled in February.

India’s next Test series — 9-month gap

India will not play red-ball cricket again until August 2026, nearly nine months from now. The upcoming Test commitments are:

August 2026 – 2-Test series vs Sri Lanka (Away)

October–November 2026 – 2-Test series vs New Zealand (Away)

January–February 2027 – Border-Gavaskar Test series vs Australia (Home)

India’s final Test series of the WTC 2025–27 cycle

These series will be critical for India’s chances of making it to the WTC Final 2027 at Lord’s.