India lose top spot in ICC Test rankings for first time since 2016

Dubai:India lost the top spot in the ICC Test rankings to Australia on Friday for the first time since October 2016, as per the latest rankings released by the ICC.Australia also became the new No 1 T20I team displacing Pakistan, while England have held on to No 1 spot in the ODI rankings.India's drop in the Test rankings is largely because Team India had won 12 Tests and lost just one in 2016-17, the records of which were removed in the latest annual update, the ICC said in a statement.

In the latest rankings, results from the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons were weighted at 50 per cent and games since May last year were given a 100 per cent weighting.Australia currently have 116 rating points while New Zealand moved up to second with 115 points in the Test rankings. India, now ranked third, have 114 points, nine more than England at the fourth position.

With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003. The closest for the top three teams was in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

On the Test Championship points table though, India still remain firmly at the top with 360 points, which is 64 points clear of the second-placed Australia.

In the ODI team rankings, reigning world champions England (127) have increased their lead over India from six to eight points. New Zealand remain in third place, three points behind India. The top ten rankings remain unchanged.

In contrast, the updated T20I team Rankings see plenty of changes. Australia (278) top the list for the first time since the T20I rankings were introduced in 2011.Pakistan, who had overtaken New Zealand to reach top position in January 2018 and then spent 27 months there, are now fourth with 260 points.

England have moved into second position with 268 points while India are up one place to third, just two points behind.Afghanistan are down from seventh to 10th while Bulgaria are the biggest gainers, up 12 places to 51st in the 84-country list of teams that played the requisite six matches in the past three years.(UNI)