WTC Point Table: South Africa dethrone Australia with 109-run win over Sri Lanka, India’s path to final becomes tricky

South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 109 runs on the last morning of the second cricket test at St George's Park and swept the series 2-0 on Monday.

With this triumph, South Africa surpass Australia to achieve top rank in WTC standings. South Africa now hold 63.33 percentage points, surpassing Australia (60.71 percentage points) by 2.62 points.

On the other hand, India’s hopes to reach the WTC final suffered a major blow as the Rohit Sharma-led side slipped to third position (57.29 percentage) after experiencing a humiliating 10-wicket loss to Australia in second Test at Adelaide Oval.

Meanwhile, the odds favored South Africa, which needed five more wickets, while Sri Lanka needed 143 more runs in a chase of 348 and its last recognised batters were in the middle.

The Proteas ended the fightbacks of captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis in the first half hour, exposed the tail, and finished off Sri Lanka for 238 before lunch.

Spinner Keshav Maharaj took three of the five wickets and achieved his 11th career five-wicket haul, 5-76.

South Africa also consolidated its hopes of qualifying for a first World Test Championship final by moving to the top of the standings with two more home tests to come against Pakistan starting on Dec.

(With inputs from AP)