The Indian cricket team continues to remain the top Test team after the annual update of the ICC’s men’s Test rankings, which was released on Thursday.
India are No. 1 on the table with 2,914 points from 24 matches, averaging 121 per match. New Zealand are not too far behind. They have accumulated 2,166 points from 18 games, with an average rating of 120.
While India beat Australia 2-1 Down Under and England 3-1 at home earlier in the year, the Kiwis enjoyed a perfect home season record of 4-0 against West Indies and Pakistan. Both sides will be locking horns in the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) on June 18, at Southampton.
The ICC also announced that the latest update doesn’t include the results of 2017-18. Australia had beaten England 4-0 in the Ashes that year. With the series excluded, England climbed up to third, with Australia falling to fourth.
Meanwhile, West Indies have moved up from eighth to sixth after beating Bangladesh in their backyard last year. A month ago, they also drew the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in the Caribbean.
Although Pakistan beat Zimbabwe 2-0 last week in Harare, they remain fifth on the rankings table. South Africa, who are facing various issues in the longer version of the game have slipped to seventh place, their joint-lowest in Test history.
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are at the bottom of the table, occupying the eighth, ninth and tenth slots respectively.
Featured photo: Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP
