India have overtaken Australia to regain the No.1 position in the ICC men’s Test team rankings ahead of their title clash in the World Test Championship final at The Oval next month.
This follows the annual update that drops results from the 2019-20 season and reflects all series completed since May 2020.
The Rohit Sharma-led team’s rating points have moved up from 119 to 121 as their 2-0 defeat to New Zealand in March 2020 no longer figures in the rankings, which assesses series completed prior to May 2022 at 50 per cent and subsequent series at 100 per cent.
India were last at the top for a month in December 2021.
Australia have slipped from 122 to 116 rating points as their home series wins over Pakistan (2-0) and New Zealand (3-0) in 2019-20 no longer figure in the rankings, while their 4-0 win over England in 2021-22 has its weightage halved to 50 per cent.
Australia were the top-ranked Test side since January 2022. They grabbed the position with the 4-0 series win over England that helped them overtake New Zealand.
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.
The other rankings too remain unchanged though 10th-placed Zimbabwe have gained five rating points.
The 2021-23 WTC cycle is now complete with the next one starting after the final.
In the T20Is, India have consolidated their position at the top, increasing their lead over second-placed England from six to eight points.
