Australia dethrone India to become No. 1 in Tests

[Nergal]

 

 

Only two points separate the top three teams © AFP

Australia's men's team became the No. 1 ranked nation in both Tests and T20Is as per the latest rankings released by the ICC. India were dethroned from the top spot in Tests for the first time since October 2016 while Pakistan lost their No. 1 ranking in T20Is after a 27-month period at the top. Australia moved to the top of the T20I rankings for the first time since T20I rankings were introduced in 2011.

Australia currently have 116 rating points while New Zealand moved up to second with 115 points in the Test rankings. India, now ranked third, have 114 points, nine more than England at the fourth position.

"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 ICC acknowledged in its release. "The closest for the top three teams was in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point."

The 2016-17 period was removed from the latest update on Friday (May 1), which led to the change in the rankings. During this period, India won 12 Tests and lost only one - winning five series, including the ones against Australia and England. Australia, on the other hand, had lost to South Africa apart from India in the same period.

On the Test Championship points table though, India still remain firmly at the top with 360 points, which is 64 points clear of the second-placed Australia.

In the T20I rankings, Australia have 278 rating points, followed by England with 268 and India with 266. Pakistan moved down to fourth with 260 points, followed by South Africa who have 258 points.

England, meanwhile, continue to hold on to the top position in the ODI rankings for teams. They have 127 rating points while India, at second, have 119. New Zealand are third with 116 points followed by South Africa with 108 and Australia with 107.

Having regained the Ashes in England, Australia were unbeaten in the five Tests at home against Pakistan and New Zealand during their summer. The T20I team was unbeaten in the six matches played at home while handing a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in South Africa earlier this year.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be, but over the last couple of years not only have we performed well on the field but we have performed well off it," said Australia head coach Justin Langer. "We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia.

"When we started on this journey there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game. We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world, we wanted to be No. 1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

Langer, however, said that defeating India in India in a Test series is when Australia can truly claim to have won back the top spot. "I said in my first conference as coach we will know we are a great team if we can beat India in India and that is certainly a great goal for us. We know they are so tough to beat so only then will we really know we can claim the number one spot. The last time we played India here they beat us for the first time in Australia so we will be determined to beat them when they come back."

 

[CGTitan]

That's good. Australia always have the upper hand in this field. It's part of their DNA, shared from the British, the inventors of the sport. And given it's part of the Australian zeitgeist, its pride should further expand. But try not to get a big head Aussies. There's a fine balance here. And the mighty could easily fall.