India start as favourites, but Bengaluru weather could level the playing field

Big picture – India look to continue WTC marchWhen they started their home season, India needed seven wins out of their ten remaining Tests to put beyond reasonable doubt their qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. In certain scenarios, even five wins would be enough. With five of these Tests in Australia, India wanted to go there with the five minimum wins already in the bag.Rain and poor facilities in Kanpur threatened to deny them one of those wins, but an extraordinarily enterprising batting approach manufactured a win there. They face a similar scenario when they start the three-Test series against New Zealand in Bengaluru, where rain disrupted the teams’ preparation, and is threatening to significantly impact the Test.Former world Test champions New Zealand will want to prove silly the assumption that rain threatens to cost India certain points as was the case with Bangladesh in Kanpur, but the fact is that not much separates New Zealand and Bangladesh on…