Ahead of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand in Southampton, we look back at Test cricket's two finals before today. Unlike ODI and T20 cricket, Test cricket is not played in multi-team series. The current World Test Championship is based on series by series, the same bilateral commitments but with additional context. Teams are playing for points. Multinational tournaments have been played thrice in Test's 144-year-old history with only two finals, and one of them was played in Bangladesh. The 1912 Triangular Tournament between England, Australia, and South Africa, the only Test playing teams back then, in England was the maiden international tri-series. The multinational series was proposed by the then Imperial Cricket Council in 1909. Initially it was decided the tournament would be played in every four years but the first edition did not bring much success. Australian players' dispute with the board had six of the top players pulling out of the tour. With South Africa not being as strong as Australia and England, the hosts had an easy journey to winning the title after four wins in six matches with no final match. Out of the nine matches in the tournament, the first eight were three-day Tests while the last one between England and Australia was timeless that ended in four days. Australia leg-spinner Jimmy Matthews became the first and the only bowler to take two hat-tricks in the same Test, against South Africa in the opening match at Old Trafford. The tri-series did not attract much attention from the British public which led to scrapping the plan. The next men's cricket's multinational tournament happened in the 1975 ODI World Cup. In the late 90's, the International Cricket Council had planned on hosting a Test World Cup only to be cancelled in January 1999. The Asian Cricket Council however went on with the first Asian Test Championship in February-March that year. With India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka taking part, the group stage matches were played in Kolkata, Colombo and Lahore. India failed to qualify for the final that was held at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Test cricket returned to Dhaka for the first time since Bangladesh's independence. Double centuries from Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq and a Wasim Akram hat-trick gave Pakistan an innings and 175-run victory and the title in four days. The next day Pakistan thumped Bangladesh by 152 runs in a one-off ODI at the same venue. Two years on, Bangladesh are a Test playing nation and the ACC set the final venue in Dhaka again which the BCCI opposed. The BCCI wanted the final to be held either in India (in case of India and Pakistan final) or Sri Lanka (in case of India and Sri Lanka final). A week ahead of the tournament, India pulled out of the tournament citing the country's political tensions with Pakistan. Bangladesh were the only team to play two matches in the round-robin stage as they lost their opening games to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh, just three-Test old before the Multan Test, lost by an innings and 264 runs. The next game in Colombo was historical. Debutant Mohammad Ashraful set the record for the youngest batter to make a Test century. Both Ashraful and Muttiah Muralitharan, who took match haul of 10 wickets, were awarded player of the match awards in Sri Lanka's innings and 137-run win. Pakistan and Sri Lanka agreed to play final straightway instead of meeting in the group stage. It was played six months later, in March 2002. Thanks to a first innings 230 from Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka put their hands on the trophy after an eight-wicket victory at the Gaddafi Stadium. The Asian Test Championship never happened again. Neither did the World Test Championship until 2019. The ICC plans on hosting WTC finals in every two years.