India drops to fourth in ICC Test rankings

Dubai, Aug 4 (PTI) India has dropped down one place to
fourth in the ICC Test Championships table after the annual
update released on Tuesday, which reflects the performance of
only the last three years with the older results being
discarded.

Sri Lanka, riding on its Test series win over Pakistan,
leveled India (119) on points but replaced Mahendra Singh
Dhoni's team at number three after re-calculation upto the
nearest decimal -- 0.01 ratings points difference.

Australia (124) clung on to the top above second-placed
South Africa (122) as just five ratings points separate top
four teams.

But Ricky Ponting's men must win both the remaining
Ashes Tests to stay there. Otherwise, it will be Graeme
Smith's turn to lead the number-one Test team in the world.

Australia has led the Test rankings ever since the
current method was introduced in May 2003.

The progress of Kumar Sangakkara's team is due to a
consistently high performance during the period of the
rankings. In that time, the team has played 10 series, winning
six, drawing three and losing just one (in Australia).

No matter how the Ashes finishes, England (99) will
remain in fifth position but if the home side wins the series,
Australia will drop to fourth position in the Test
Championship table.

If the series ends in a 1-1 draw, South Africa will rise
to the top. Australia, Sri Lanka and India will all have the
same rating, but with Australia still clinging on to second
place by a decimal point.

In the batting list, Gautam Gambhir remained on second
spot with 847 points behind Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara
(862).

Sachin Tendulkar (15th), VVS Laxman (17th) and Virender
Sehwag (19th) are the other Indian batsmen in the top 20.

Among bowlers, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan are in top
10 at sixth and ninth respectively while Ishant Sharma is in
19th in the list headed by South African Dale Steyn.

The annual update is carried out to ensure the ICC Test
Championship table continues to reflect recent form with older
results being discarded.

The table reflects all Test series that were completed
since August three years ago. All series played until the
start of next August will be added to this table, so by then
the ratings will be based on four years of results, with
series completed within the last two years carrying greater
weight.

Next August the first year of results will be dropped and
this pattern is repeated each August, with the oldest of the
four years of results removed to be gradually replaced with
results of series completed over the following 12 months.

Thus, once a year, the rankings change overnight without
any new series being completed. PTI PDS
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