ICC on Friday announced the prize money for the winners and runner-ups of the World Test Championship final between India and Australia slated to be played at The Oval, England from June 7 to 11 with June 12 being the reserve day. ICC said the Australia-India WTC final will have a major incentive for both teams as other than the crowning glory in the longest format of the game, the winners will also collect $1.6 million as the winners’ prize money. The losing finalists will pocket $800,000.

The tournament prize money is the same as that for the inaugural edition of the championship – ICC World Test Championship 2019-21 – a total purse of $3.8 million.

The Kane Williamson-led New Zealand side were rewarded with $1.6 million besides the glittering Mace in Southampton two years ago courtesy of an eight-wicket win over India in the six-day final.

All nine ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 participants will get a share in the $3.8 million purse. South Africa have earned $450,000 by finishing third in the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 standings.

England who made a late resurgence in the two-year cycle with an aggressive playing style, ended up fourth on the table – a reward of $350,000.

Sri Lanka, who were in the running for a place in the final before their series defeat in New Zealand, dropped down to the fifth spot. Their prize money share is $200,000.

Sixth-placed New Zealand, seventh-placed Pakistan, eighth-placed West Indies and ninth-placed Bangladesh will be given $100,000 each.

India start training for the WTC final

The first batch of Indian players including Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav have landed in England early along with the support staff headed by coach Rahu Dravid. Under the watchful eyes of Dravid, batting coach BVikram Rathour and trainer Soham Desai, the Indian cricketers had their first training session on Thursday.

The rest of the Indian cricketers including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are slated to travel to England after IPL 2023 gets over.

Senior-pro Cheteshwar Pujara is already in England for the last few weeks playing county cricket.

This will be India's second shot at getting their hands on the Test mace in as many editions. They were beaten by New Zealand in the last edition's final under Kohli's captaincy.