ICC Test Rankings: India take top spot from Australia

India have wrestled the top spot in ICC Test Rankings from Australia ahead of their showdown in the World Test Championship final at The Oval on 7 June. Australia had occupied the top spot for 15 months before India’s surge to the summit.

Prior to the annual rankings update, Australia were at the top with 122 points with India behind by just three points (119).

The annual rankings update has taken into account all series completed since May 2020, with series completed before May 2022 weighted at 50 percent and all subsequent series weighted at 100 percent, explained an ICC statement.

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As a result, Australia’s home series wins against Pakistan (2-0) and New Zealand (3-0) in 2019/20 dropped out of consideration, while their 4-0 win over England in 2021/22 has its weighing halved. Due to this, Australia’s ratings have dropped from 121 to 116 points.

Meanwhile, for India, their 2-0 defeat against New Zealand in 2019/20 is no longer in consideration for this update, giving them a two-point boost from 119 to 121.

Australia had risen to the top of the ICC Test Rankings under the leadership of Pat Cummins. In his first series as skipper, Australia whalloped England 4-0 in the Ashes at home in January 2022. A month before it, India were at the top before a 2-0 away series defeat at South Africa ended their reign.

England’s incredible run under the captaincy of Ben Stokes sees them close the gap to second spot from 13 points to just two. The weightage of their 4-0 Ashes defeat and 1-0 away series defeat at West Indies have been reduced as well.

The rest of the rankings remain unchanged.

ICC Test Rankings:

1. India – 121 points

2. Australia – 116 points

3. England – 114 points

4. South Africa – 104 points

5. New Zealand – 100 points

6. Pakistan – 86 points

7. Sri Lanka – 84 points

8. West Indies – 76 points

9. Bangladesh – 45 points

10. Zimbabwe – 32 points

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