India's #1 rank in Test Matches / ICC Rankings

[punjabi_khota]

I am sick of these self-proclaimed-perfection-demanding-fans-who-are-really-retards-and-don't-understand-the-ranking-system :mad: Bhai, we are not saying India is a all conquering beast that has raped all teams all over the world. All we are saying is given the ranking criteria (which is obviously agreed upon by ICC), India has been the most successful. If you think it is because India played more tests at home recently, then lets just wait till we play more abroad and see what happens. If you think ranking criteria is flawed, then feel free to tell us what would a better one (giving more weight to away wins is obviously one suggestion that carries some merit). But don't do one thing: don't bring 5 or even 10 year old series into consideration and expect us to have a serious discussion with you. :bye:

[Karan114]

Since 2006, India have toured all the current Test playing countries and the cycle will re start again this December with tours of SA, WI (though may be canceled because of IPL), England and Australia in the 14 months after that...the whole "India doesn't play away and racks up easy home points" is a complete myth. On the other hand, look at Sri Lanka who haven't toured SA since 2002 or Australia who haven't toured Lanka since 2004.

[ludhianvi]

Here's how India achieved its #1 Test ranking: The ICC Test Rankings take into consideration the completed series in the last 3-4 years. So at the moment, all series since Aug 1, 2007. The first two years have a weighting factor of 0.5 whereas the results from the last year (Aug1, 2009) onwards have a weighting factor of 1. We should see only incremental changes until next August when the first year (Aug 2007-2008) of the current period will be omitted from the rankings. Basically, after each series, teams are awarded points for wins/draws and series wins and it also takes into consideration the ranking of the opposition at the start of the series and points are accumulated for this 3-4 year period. For a more detailed explanation check out wiki or the ICC site. And India is set to tour SA in one of its upcoming tours so that should address a few concerns that some may have. So India's series starts with the English tour of 2007. Period 1 (first two years) 25 Matches :: 8 series :: 4 home , 4 away series Home: W-L-D 1-0-2 Win vs Pakistan 1-1-1 Draw vs South Africa 2-0-2 Win vs Australia 1-0-1 Win vs England Away: W-L-D 1-0-2 Win in England 1-2-1 loss in Australia 1-2-0 loss in Sri Lanka 1-0-2 win in NZ Period 2 (last Aug onwards) counts for 100% 10 Matches :: 4 Series :: 2 Home, 2 away Series Home: 2-0-1 Win vs Sri Lanka 1-1-0 Draw vs South Africa Away: 2-0-0 Win in Bangladesh 1-1-1 Draw in Sri Lanka

[Shawn]

Rankings shouldn't be taken seriously.IND should win in SA & AUS to claim real no.1 spot IMO. SL 3,AUS 4 that tells how misleading these rankings could be.

[Rajiv]

hehe, naya rangroot aaya apna blog ka advertisement karne..bacche ko betaoo, chai wai pilaoo

[satyam1729]

Rankings shouldn't be taken seriously.IND should win in SA & AUS to claim real no.1 spot IMO. SL 3,AUS 4 that tells how misleading these rankings could be.

Panting never had 100 in India till 2008. Yet he was called no.1 batsmen in the world in 2006.:haha:

[Shawn]

Panting never had 100 in India till 2008. Yet he was called no.1 batsmen in the world in 2006.:haha:

Dravid probably played more under pressure knocks than Ponting.I used to rank Dravid & Lara higher than Ponting.

[Shawn]

I don't need a seat & I don't want your tea.

[Rajiv]

bidi ? paan

[Shawn]

Lol not now.Maybe later

[thevortex]

I am not sure why the poor thread starter got set upon :). But question yourself - is India the No.2 ODI side right now? Is India still the No.1 Test side even with Zaheer back? There is absolutely no question that India earned the No.1 position with splendid deeds. The question might be as to whether that is still valid. I mean - M. S . Dhoni, until a few days back, was the World's No.1 batsman in ODIs. The mind boggles, does it not?

[Chandan]

I am not sure why the poor thread starter got set upon :). But question yourself - is India the No.2 ODI side right now? Is India still the No.1 Test side even with Zaheer back? There is absolutely no question that India earned the No.1 position with splendid deeds. The question might be as to whether that is still valid. I mean - M. S . Dhoni, until a few days back, was the World's No.1 batsman in ODIs. The mind boggles, does it not?

Vortex, Yes, It is still valid because even till now the number one stands. If we aren't good enough from hereon we'll lose the number one ranking. It is as simple as that! And no. The mind doesn't boggle at all. Australia was number one side even two after Warne and McGrath retired. But they had acheived such lofty heights during their days that falling behind the pack took more than 2 years. India can only dream of such heights but WE ARE AHEAD OF EVERYONE ELSE right now and that too based on whatever result we've acheived. If we fail to keep that standard up, we won't remain number one. I just can't understand how such a simple fact can make your mind boggle!!

[The Outsider]

I am not sure why the poor thread starter got set upon :). But question yourself - is India the No.2 ODI side right now? Is India still the No.1 Test side even with Zaheer back? There is absolutely no question that India earned the No.1 position with splendid deeds. The question might be as to whether that is still valid. I mean - M. S . Dhoni, until a few days back, was the World's No.1 batsman in ODIs. The mind boggles, does it not?

Oh hai another self loather. :hello: But to just humor you, any team which goes in SL and comes back with a drawn series without it's two main strike bowlers is number 1.

[saneindian]

I am not sure why the poor thread starter got set upon :). But question yourself - is India the No.2 ODI side right now? Is India still the No.1 Test side even with Zaheer back? There is absolutely no question that India earned the No.1 position with splendid deeds. The question might be as to whether that is still valid. I mean - M. S . Dhoni, until a few days back, was the World's No.1 batsman in ODIs. The mind boggles, does it not?

You seem to have too many problems with any Indian or India being at the top of ICC ratings. Why bother writing such a long piece. Why don't you simply say " ICC rankings are crap". When we had our full team we beat SA and won the Asia Cup. In tests , when was the last time we lost a test series?

[Rahul48]

Our next tours to SA & AUS will tell the story whether we are no.1 or not.We did well to fightback in SL,but I'm disappointed with the way we lost that test match to SA at home.

[thevortex]

You seem to have too many problems with any Indian or India being at the top of ICC ratings. Why bother writing such a long piece. Why don't you simply say " ICC rankings are crap". When we had our full team we beat SA and won the Asia Cup. In tests , when was the last time we lost a test series?

This is a long piece for you? :) Then God help you when I actually come up with a long one. Yes, well, most statistics is crap. If not taken within context. And I have no problems saying that right now India is not the top Test team. Just as I have no problem celebrating when we were No.1; when we earned the No.1 position.

[thevortex]

Vortex, Yes, It is still valid because even till now the number one stands. If we aren't good enough from hereon we'll lose the number one ranking. It is as simple as that! And no. The mind doesn't boggle at all. Australia was number one side even two after Warne and McGrath retired. But they had acheived such lofty heights during their days that falling behind the pack took more than 2 years. India can only dream of such heights but WE ARE AHEAD OF EVERYONE ELSE right now and that too based on whatever result we've acheived. If we fail to keep that standard up, we won't remain number one. I just can't understand how such a simple fact can make your mind boggle!!

Chandan - lets not play on puns. I did NOT question the validity of the rankings. The rankings still stand. They are numbers. And numbers thrive on sample size. But I can and will question the veracity of these pieces of statistics. However that is outside the scope of this little discussion. On the contrary all I did was put a simple question. Is India still the best team in the world in Tests? Simple, is it not? And about the mind boggling - it was not about India being the best Test team. It was about MS Dhoni being the world's best ODI batsman till a few days back!

Oh hai another self loather. :hello: But to just humor you, any team which goes in SL and comes back with a drawn series without it's two main strike bowlers is number 1.

Outsider - anybody even having cursorily read my posts praising the Indian team or the various Indian players would not make the mistake of branding me as what you did above. Not sure what there is in questioning the ranking of the Indian team that goads you so! I asked a very simple question. Is India still the top team in Tests in the world? And remember I am not talking about some "official" ranking. Just a simple opinion. The more we want for esoteric, skill based aspects (of sport) to be ruled solely by objectiveness of numbers the more we will be fooled. Just my opinion.

[punjabi_khota]

^Most of what you have said seems to indicate that you are not convinced about how rankings don't reflect the situation RIGHT NOW. You seem to believe India was #1 some time ago, and Dhoni was #1 some time ago , but neither is true right now. We can all argue how much weight past performances have be given, but there is probably never going to be any consensus on that. Too much weight to current performances will obviously mean lots of fluctuations in rankings based on one series. If you have a better formula for calculating the rankings (and not just your touchy feely idea of what the top team should be), let us know.

[thevortex]

^Most of what you have said seems to indicate that you are not convinced about how rankings don't reflect the situation RIGHT NOW. You seem to believe India was #1 some time ago, and Dhoni was #1 some time ago , but neither is true right now. We can all argue how much weight past performances have be given, but there is probably never going to be any consensus on that. Too much weight to current performances will obviously mean lots of fluctuations in rankings based on one series. If you have a better formula for calculating the rankings (and not just your touchy feely idea of what the top team should be), let us know.

Correction - while I did believe that India was the top team when it reached the top of the board in the rankings, I never believed that Dhoni was the best ODI batsman in the world. Not at any point of time. You said it yourself. Cricket, as is the case with many other sports, is prone to patches of form. Good or bad. It takes time for these rankings to catch up. Depends on how much of a head start the No.1 has gotten when the times were good. Just going by the rankings is not necessarily God's own truth. And I am afraid I dont have any magical formula for calculating who the best team in the world may be at any given period of time. Not that I would advocate going for one either :).

[The Outsider]

Outsider - anybody even having cursorily read my posts praising the Indian team or the various Indian players would not make the mistake of branding me as what you did above. Not sure what there is in questioning the ranking of the Indian team that goads you so! I asked a very simple question. Is India still the top team in Tests in the world? And remember I am not talking about some "official" ranking. Just a simple opinion. The more we want for esoteric, skill based aspects (of sport) to be ruled solely by objectiveness of numbers the more we will be fooled. Just my opinion.

Of course, we are the best team in the world. We have not lost a test series for 2 years and 7 series running. We have pulled off an unheard of 400 run chase in India. We have pulled off an unimaginable for a touring side 250 run chase in Sri Lanka. We have bowled out a batting line up like South Africa twice in a rain truncated match. The manner in which Zaheer, Ishant, and Sreesanth have ripped through batting line ups on dead pitches is unprecedented. In Sehwag and Gambhir we have the most deadly opening combination in the world. We have Laxman and Tendulkar who have been conjuring masterpieces regularly with no sign of slowing down. The team and winning culture is so strong that even after losing 3 strike bowlers from the line up, the likes of Ojha have stepped in to lead us to a critical win. A newcomer like Raina immediately comes in and starts making runs and pulling his weight. If all these and much more are not the signs of the best team in the world, then I don't know what is!