Team India Continue to Lead ICC Test Rankings, New Zealand in Close Second Position

Team India remained the number one Test side after the annual update of the ICC team rankings, released on Thursday. India head the table with a rating of 121 having accumulated 2914 points from 24 matches. Virat Kohli’s men are closely followed by their World Test Championship final opponents, New Zealand, with a rating of 120. The Kiwis have garnered 2166 points from 18 Tests.

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England (109) have climbed a place to third at the expense of Australia (108), who are down to fourth now.

Pakistan (94) are fifth, while West Indies (84) have jumped two places to sixth.

South Africa (80) and Sri Lanka (78) have dropped a rung each to seventh and eighth positions respectively, followed by Bangladesh (46) and Zimbabwe (35).

On the other hand, India spinner R Ashwin continues to be the only bowler in Top-10 of the bowler’s rankings. He remains at the second spot, while pacer Jasprit Bumrah to stays static at 11th position. Pakistan bowlers Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Nauman Ali is the first Pakistan trio in Test history to take five wickets in the same match. They achieved the feat during the recently concluded second Test against Zimbabwe in Harare which Pakistan won by an innings to complete a 2-0 clean sweep.

With that feat they achieved their career-best rankings. In the batting department, there were no changes at the top, as Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant remain at fifth and sixth, respectively. Kane Williamson continues to lead.

One Indian player continues to struggle since the last couple of years — Kuldeep Yadav. The 26-year-old has played only a handful of games since the 2019 World Cup, and is feeling the heat. In an interview recently, he said that he has been missing the guidance of MS Dhoni. “Sometimes I miss that guidance because he (Mahi) has great experience. He used to guide us behind the wicket, kept screaming! We miss his experience,” Kuldeep said in an interview with Indian Express.”Rishabh is there now, the more he plays, the more input he will give in the future. I always felt every bowler needs a partner who can respond from the other end,” Kuldeep added.

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“When Mahi bhai was there, I and Chahal were playing. Ever since Mahi bhai left, Chahal and I haven’t played together. I played only a handful of games after Mahi bhai left,” he further said. “I must have played ten-odd games. I had even taken a hat-trick. If you look at the performance as a whole, it will look pretty decent but if one breaks it up then my performance sometimes can look not up to the mark,” he said.

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