India heads into England Test series with unassailable lead on ICC rankings

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NO matter how badly India plays in England, Virat Kohli’s men will leave the UK as the world’s best Test team.

India currently occupies top spot on the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings, with a 19-point gap on second-placed South Africa. The Indians have a rating of 125, with South Africa on 106 — just a fraction of a point ahead of third-placed Australia.

It means that even if the Indians suffer a 5-0 series whitewash at the hands of England they will hold onto top spot.

Such a result would see India slump to a rating of 112 points, with England picking up 10 points to move from fifth to second on the rankings with a rating of 107.

The 19-point buffer should be of some comfort to the Asian powerhouse, which has only won three of its 14 Tests outside of the subcontinent in the past four years. On India’s last Test tour of England it suffered a 3-1 series defeat.

India must win the series by at least a two-Test margin to maintain its rating of 125 points. An unlikely 5-0 series win would see the Indians pick up four points, and England slide to sixth with a rating of 94.

India does have reason to be cautiously optimistic heading into the series. Kohli’s side won its most recent Test away from home, beating South Africa on a juiced up deck in Johannesburg. Despite losing that series 2-1, there were suggestions this Indian outfit is capable of impressing away from home — an inability that has dogged teams of the past — thanks to a much improved pace attack.

On Wednesday, India reached stumps on day one of its three-day match against Essex at 6-322, with Murali Vijay (53), Kohli (68), KL Rahul (58) and Dinesh Karthik (82 not out) all scoring half-centuries on a green-tinged pitch. Worryingly for India both opener Shikhar Dhawan (0) and first drop Cheteshwar Pujara (1) misfired.

Dhawan and Pujara will both be desperate for India to play a second innings as this is the tourists’ only warm-up before the Test series. Their hopes of batting twice were hurt before a ball had even been bowled, with India opting to scrap a day from what had been pencilled in as a four-day fixture.

Reports emerged on Tuesday that India wanted to remove a day because of concerns over the pitch and the outfield. Coach Ravi Shastri has strongly denied those suggestions, claiming to have turned down an offer to have the pitch mowed down.

“There was no complaints from the Indian management about anything,” Shastri told travelling Indian media. “On this entire trip, you will never see an Indian team giving excuses as regards to conditions or the pitch.

“Our challenge is to beat them. We take pride in performing wherever we go. We want to be the best travelling side in the word.

“So the last person who will make a complaint will be this Indian team.

“The groundsman (asked) do you want the grass to be taken off? I said absolutely not,” explained Shastri. “It is your prerogative. What you give, we play.”

He said the decision to scrap the fourth day was down to a desire to spend an extra day training at Edgbaston, which will host the first Test, starting Wednesday (8pm EST).

“(We are) getting in there, into the Test match venue, because it wouldn’t have served the purpose here (Chelmsford). Instead of an extra day here, I think an extra day (of training) there would be more valuable.

“If we had played four days here we would have lost that one day there because of travel.”