India will head to England for the World Test Championship (WTC) final from June 7-11 at the top of the ICC Men's Test rankings, the apex word cricket board confirmed on Tuesday, May 2. Ironically, the side have moved above their opponents in the final, Australia, who were at the summit for 15 months.
Before the latest round of rankings were announced, Australia had 122 points to their name, with India trailing them by three points (119). The current annual rankings take into consideration all the series that the teams completed since May 2020, with series completed before May 2022 weighted at 50 per cent and all subsequent series weighted at 100 per cent.
This is why, Australia’s 2-0 home series win over Pakistan and 3-0 win over New Zealand in the 2019-20 season were no longer in consideration, while their 4-0 win over England in 2021-22 has its weight halved. Meanwhile, Australia's ratings fell from 121 to 116 after their performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
For India, their 2-0 defeat against New Zealand in 2019-20 was no longer in consideration for the rankings, thus giving them a two-point boost from 119 to 121.
The Baggy Greens moved to the summit of the rankings under Pat Cummins' first series as captain when they thrashed England 4-0 in the home Ashes in January 2022. Before that, India were at the top of the rankings before a 2-0 loss to South Africa saw them lose the top spot.
England's upturn in form under the latest captaincy of Ben Stokes has helped them reduce the gap to now-second Australia. It was previously 13 but now, it's just two points. The weightage of their 4-0 Ashes defeat and the 1-0 series defeat away against West Indies have been reduced as well.
The rest of the rankings remain unchanged.
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