New Zealand’s overwhelming victory over Zimbabwe in Bulawayo by an innings and 359 runs grabbed attention for its dominance but does not affect the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 points table and thus has no direct impact on India’s current position. This is due to Zimbabwes exclusion from the WTC cycle despite being a full member of the ICC. Only the top nine Test teams as of March 31 2018 were eligible to compete in the tournament when it started in 2019. Afghanistan Ireland and Zimbabwe were left out and are still not part of the competition. The nine participating teams in the tournament are Australia England India New Zealand South Africa Pakistan West Indies Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India ranks third on the WTC points table  With a points percentage of 46.67 India ranks third on the WTC table after the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy series. With 43.33 England is in fourth place just behind. With a perfect 100 points from their first games Australia holds the top spot followed by Sri Lanka with 66.67. At this point New Zealands outcome has no bearing on India. The WTC 2025–27 campaign which starts in December with a three-Test home series against the West Indies has not yet begun for the Kiwis who won the first 2019–21 cycle. New Zealand secured overwhelming victory over Zimbabwe But the Bulawayo match was historic. After declaring themselves at 601 for three New Zealand easily defeated Zimbabwe twice with Zak Foulkes taking five wickets in the second innings to secure the third-largest innings victory in Test history. Although this won’t affect the current WTC standings performances like this serve as a reminder that when New Zealand enters the competition they could become one of India’s toughest challengers on the way to the 2027 final.