DUBAI: India Men’s Cricket Team leapfrogged Australia to climb to the top of the Test Team Rankings ahead of their World Test Championship (WTC) Final, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Tuesday.
The annual Test team rankings update hyped up the World Test Championship (WTC) Final between the two sides when India ended Australia’s dominant 15-month reign at the top.
Prior to the annual rankings update, Australia were at the top with 122 points with India trailing them by three points (119). The annual rankings consider all series completed since May 2020, with series completed before May 2022 weighted at 50 percent and all subsequent series weighted at 100 percent.
As a result, Australia’s home series wins over Pakistan (2-0) and New Zealand (3-0) in 2019/20 were no longer in consideration, while their 4-0 win over England in 2021/22 has its weighting halved. Consequently, Australia’s ratings dropped from 121 to 116.
For India, their 2-0 defeat against New Zealand in 2019/20 was no longer in consideration for the rankings, thus giving them a two-point boost from 119 to 121.
Australia rose to the summit of the Test rankings under Pat Cummins’ first series as captain as they walloped England 4-0 in the home Ashes in January 2022. A month prior, India themselves were at the top of the rankings before a 2-0 loss to South Africa saw them lose the top spot.
England’s upheaval in form under the captaincy of Ben Stokes helps them close the gap to second spot from 13 points to just two. The weightage of their 4-0 Ashes defeat and the 1-0 series defeat away against West Indies have been reduced as well. Whereas the rest of the rankings remain unchanged.