WTC 2025 Final: Team India's Third-Place Prize Money Nears Past Champions' Earnings

Team India will receive a whopping share of the prize money despite finishing third in the ongoing World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle. India could not qualify for the third successive final of the tournament after relinquishing their Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia in January this year.

Ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2025 between South Africa and the defending champions Australia, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced a prize pool for the tournament. The ongoing cycle of the WTC will come to a conclusion after the battle for Test supremacy at Lord's on Wednesday, June 11.

Australia are the defending champions of the tournament as they clinched their maiden title by defeating India in the final in 2023, while South Africa are set to play their WTC final after finishing as the table toppers of the ongoing cycle of the tournament.

Massive increase in WTC prize pool

In May this year, the ICC announced a record prize pool of $5.76 million, which is a 41 percent increase from the $3.8 million prize money of the two previous editions of the World Test Championship.

This significant increase in the prize money for the prestigious Test tournament reflects the International Cricket Council's commitment to prioritizing and growing Test cricket, aiming to build on the momentum of the first three cycles of the World Test Championship of a nine-team competition.

The winner of the WTC Final between South Africa and Australia will take the prize money of $3.6 million, which 76.92% increase from the two previous editions of the tournament, where the winners received a cash reward of $1.6 million. While the runner-up in the battle for Test supremacy will earn $2.16 million, an increase from the $800,000 awarded earlier.

How much will Team India earn for the third-place finish?

India were the first team to make it to the WTC final twice on the trot, but failed to get their hands on the coveted Test mace after losing to New Zealand and Australia, respectively.

This time, Rohit Sharma-led side missed the bus following their 1-3 Test series defeat to Australia, and their World Test Championship campaign came to an end by finishing third with nine wins, eight losses, and two draws, with a win percentage of 50%. Team India's chances of qualifying for the WTC final got a big hit after suffering a three-match Test series whitewash at the hands of New Zealand at home.

As the third-place finish on the WTC points table, Team India will receive $1.44 million, which is equivalent to INR 12.32 crore. Earlier, this was a massive increase of 260% from the previous two editions of the tournament, where the third-place finished teams earned 400,000 as a cash prize. Team India's prize money for the third-place finish almost matches the $1.6 million received by the champions of the previous two editions of the tournament, New Zealand in 2021 and Australia in 2023.

WTC 25 Prize Money twitter/RJk8k9Tdne

- Caught & Bowled (@caught1bowled) May 15, 2025

As the runner-up of the two previous WTC Final editions, Team India earned $800,000 each time (in 2021 and 2023). This means the prize money India received for finishing third in the current WTC cycle is a significant leap from what they earned as the losing finalists in the past.

Team India to begin new WTC cycle with England Test series

The new World Test Championship cycle will begin with the Test series between England and India, starting on June 20. India will begin their new era in Test cricket, with Shubman Gill taking over the reins as the captain, with Rishabh Pant as his deputy.

India will embark on a transition phase in Test cricket after the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Rohit Sharma called time on his Test career after he was removed from the captaincy ahead of the England Tour, and then, Virat Kohli followed suit by announcing his decision to step away from red-ball cricket. Ashwin retired from international cricket in the middle of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after the Gabba Test ended in a draw.

Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Shardul Thakur, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Arshdeep Singh were added to the India squad, signalling a fresh chapter in Indian Test cricket as the team set to embrace a generational shift with a focus on youth and long-term building under Shubman Gill's leadership.

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