India lose top spot in ICC Test rankings to Australia

PTI, May 1, 2020, 12:35 PM IST

Dubai: India lost the top spot in the ICC Test rankings to Australia on Friday, dropping to third after their stupendous 2016-17 record was eliminated from the annual update as per rules.

India yielded the top spot in Test rankings for the first time since October 2016 but continues to lead the ICC World Test Championship, a league comprising six series played by each of the top nine sides.

“India dropped in the ladder largely because the record of 12 Tests victories and just one Test defeat in 2016-17 was removed in the latest chart,” the ICC said in a statement.

Virat Kohli’s men had won all five series during that period including against Australia and England. On the other hand, Australia had lost to South Africa as well as to India in the same period.

The latest update rates all the matches played since May 2019 at 100 percent and those of the previous two years at 50 percent.

Australia not only moved to the top of the Test rankings but also grabbed the no.1 spot in the T20I list for the first time while England continued to lead the men’s ODI rankings after the annual update, which eliminates results from 2016-17.

Australia now has 116 points and is followed by New Zealand (115) and India (114).

With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

South Africa has suffered the biggest rating fall of eight points, which sees them drop below Sri Lanka into sixth place.

They had won three series in the period culled, while lost eight of their nine Tests since February 2019, playing against Sri Lanka, India, and England.

In the ODI team rankings, reigning world champions England (127) have increased their lead over India from six to eight points.

New Zealand remains in third place, three points behind India. The top ten rankings remain unchanged.

In contrast, the updated T20I team Rankings see plenty of changes. Australia (278) top the list for the first time since the T20I rankings were introduced in 2011.

Pakistan, who had overtaken New Zealand to reach the top position in January 2018 and then spent 27 months there, are now fourth with 260 points.

England has moved into the second position with 268 points while India is up by one place to third, just two points behind.

Afghanistan has down from seventh to 10th while Bulgaria is the biggest gainer, up 12 places to 51st in the 84-country list of teams that played the requisite six matches in the past three years.