India and New Zealand will be declared joint winners in the event of a draw or tie, the International Cricket Council said on Friday while announcing the playing conditions for the World Test Championship, scheduled to be held in Southampton from June 18-22.
The world body also reiterated that the reserve day would be set aside only to make up for any lost time during the regular five days of the match.
Both of these decisions had been made in June 2018, prior to the commencement of the World Test Championship, added the ICC in a media release.
"The Reserve Day has been scheduled to ensure five full days of play, and it will only be used if lost playing time cannot be recovered through the normal provisions of making up lost time each day. There will be no additional day’s play if a positive result is not achieved after five full days of play and the match will be declared a draw in such a scenario," the release stated.
"The final decision on whether the Reserve Day needs to be used will be announced at the scheduled start of the last hour on the fifth day."
The final, which will be played using Dukes balls, will also see the implementation of the recent changes to playing conditions which came into effect with the ongoing World Cup Super League series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
According to new rules, the fielding captain or the dismissed batsman will have the option of confirming with the umpire whether a genuine attempt has been made to play the ball prior to deciding whether to initiate a player review for leg-before wicket.
In a crucial tweak in DRS reviews for LBW, the height margin of the wicket zone has been lifted to the top of the stumps to ensure the same umpire’s call margin around the stumps for both height and width.
Also coming into effect will be the third umpire's review of a ‘short run’ call by the on-field umpire and communicating the decision prior to the next ball being bowled.