3 sides most capable of winning the inaugural Test Championship

1- India

Toughest upcoming series: Away to Australia, Away to New Zealand, Home to England.

Easiest upcoming series: Home to Bangladesh, Away to the West Indies, Home to South Africa.

3 Key players vital to India's success:

Virat Kohli

Arguably India's greatest batsman in history after Sachin Tendulkar. Virat Kohli has been instrumental to India's success in the last 5 years. Despite being more dominant in limited overs cricket Kohli has forged an impressive Test match record.

He has scored 5554 runs from 66 Tests at an impressive average of 53.40 runs per innings. What makes Kohli so important to India is his ability to perform outside the sub-continent. Kohli averages 62.00 in Australia, 55.80 in South Africa, and 71.33 in New Zealand.

These are countries where Indian batsman normally struggle to score. India plays more Tests away from home than usual over the next 2 years. This makes Kohli's ability to score all around the world crucial to India's hopes of winning the Test Championship.

Mohammed Shami

Despite having only played 30 tests for India, Mohammed Shami is extremely important to India's success. Shami is more known for his limited overs bowling but in his short career, he has developed a more than handy Test record.

From 30 Tests he has taken 110 wickets at a tidy average of 28.90 runs per wicket. Given over half his matches have been played in spin-friendly conditions this record is great. An example of his quality comes from his statistics in South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Shami averages 24.00 runs per wicket in South Africa and just 19.00 runs per wicket in Sri Lanka. India need to win away from home, and to achieve this they need Shami to be bowling at his best.

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin has been India's best bowler in home conditions for a significant period, especially in Test Matches. In India alone, he has taken 225 wickets at an average of 22.79 runs per wicket. India will need Ashwin to continue this form at home but also produce more results away from the sub-continent.

For example, in Australia Ashwin averages 54.71 runs per wicket. In South Africa, he averages 46.14 runs per wicket. These numbers do not reflect the quality of bowler that Ashwin is. To win Tests away from home, India will need better performances from their number 1 spin bowler. Ashwin’s batting is also important for India.

He averages 30.46 runs per innings and has been ranked in the top 10 all-rounders in Test Cricket. Contributions from Ashwin down the order will also be vital for India if they are to challenge for the Test Championship.