Guwahati: India climbed to the top of the ICC Test rankings with its victory against Australia in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Nagpur. As a result, the Indian men’s cricket team is currently rated first across all three game forms.
With their recent 3-0 series victory over New Zealand, India surpassed New Zealand to take the top spot in the ODI rankings, which they already held in T20I.
India must defeat Australia in the second Test, which will start on February 17 in Delhi, in order to keep the top spot in Test cricket. Moreover, it would strengthen the Indian team’s hold on a qualifying spot for the World Test Championship final in June. To advance to the championship, India must either win the series 3-1 or 3-0.
India trounced Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the opening Test, with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rohit Sharma leading the way. They all receive a bump in their rankings as a result.
With eight wickets in the game for India, Ashwin rose to second place in the Test bowling rankings. With seven wickets and an essential 70, Jadeja maintained his lead in the all-rounders rankings, leaving him only 21 rating points behind Pat Cummins. Jadeja advanced four positions to take 16th place among bowlers.
Axar Patel only had one wicket in the game but was extremely important for India with the bat. In the game, he amassed 84 runs, which is his highest-ever Test total. He moved up six spots to eighth in the all-rounders rankings after the inning.
Moreover, Rohit Sharma raised two positions to eighth place among Test hitters with his 120, which enabled India to score 400 on a difficult pitch.
Meanwhile, despite Australia’s generally subpar batting effort, Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith continued to hold down the top two spots in the batting rankings.
Usman Khawaja and Davind Warner, on the other hand, lost ground as a result of their subpar performances in Nagpur’s two innings. Warner fell six spots to 20th, while Khawaja lost two spots to tenth.