Consider the following statements in respect of the ICC World Test Championship: ​ 1. The finalists were decided by the number of matches they won. ​ 2. New Zealand was ranked ahead of England because it won more matches than England. ​ Which of the above statements is/are correct? ​

Both statements are wrong, so the answer is D. The ICC World Test Championship (2019-21 cycle) ranked teams on Percentage of Points (PCT), which is the points a side earned divided by the points available in the matches it played. Raw number of wins was never the criterion.

• Statement 1 is wrong. The two finalists, New Zealand and India, were decided by PCT standings at the end of the cycle, not by who won the most matches. Teams played different numbers of series, so a raw win count would have been unfair.
• Statement 2 is wrong. New Zealand finished above England because its PCT was higher. The reason given, that it won more matches, is not the basis of the ranking, so the causal claim fails even if the ranking order is right.

The core concept is how a league-style standing is normalised across unequal fixture lists. This links to Mains questions on sports governance and on how ICC and other bodies design fair ranking systems.

Trap: aspirants assume that more wins means a higher rank in any table. In WTC, points are weighted and normalised, so always check the scoring rule before reasoning from wins.