Staff Reporter.
India ended Australia’s 15-month reign as the No 1 test team in cricket on Tuesday ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June between the two sides.
The annual update of the official rankings dropped the results from the 2019-20 season and reflects all series completed since May 2020.
That meant India’s 2-0 loss in New Zealand in 2019-20 was no longer in consideration, taking Rohit Sharma’s team to the top of the list with 121 points.
Australia dropped to 116 points after wins against Pakistan and New Zealand in 2019-20 were left out and their 4-0 Ashes victory against England had its weighting halved in the annual exercise.
England remain in third position but the gap between them and the second placed side is reduced from 13 to two rating points owing to some consistent performances in recent months as well as reduced weightage of their 4-0 Ashes defeat and a 1-0 defeat in the West Indies.
India are also the top-ranked T20 team ahead of world champions England and they face Australia in the WTC final at the Oval on June 7.