Former India player and Indian cricket team’s head coach Ravi Shastri is all praises for the players who have toiled hard and performed out of their skin to retain the apex spot in test rankings. India has been leading rankings since 2016.
Shastri said the main reason why India has been consistent with the results is its steely resolve and single-minded attention. He went on to say that players have earned every bit of top position. When India was put under tough conditions, they found the answers in every situation, even after rules changed mid-way. Shastri took to Twitter to express his views.
Here is what he said –
“This team has shown steely resolve & unwavering focus to be crowned No. 1. It is something the boys have earned fair & square. Rules changed midway but #TeamIndia overcame every hurdle along the way. My boys played tough cricket in tough times. Super proud of this bindass bunch.”
This 🇮🇳team has shown steely resolve & unwavering focus to be crowned No. 1. It is something the boys have earned fair & square. Rules changed midway but #TeamIndia overcame every hurdle along the way. My boys played tough cricket in tough times. Super proud of this bindass bunch pic.twitter.com/StzcsexCRF
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) May 13, 2021
India is in a top position closely followed by New Zealand at two. India was hugely rewarded for series wins against Australia (away, 2-1) and England (home, 3-1). The current counting system rates all matches played since May 2020 at 100 percent and those of the previous two years at 50 percent. This system doesn’t count results from 2017-18.
BCCI also acknowledged India’s outstanding performance on its official Twitter handle. Here is the post –
NEWS: #TeamIndia retain top spot in ICC Test Rankings
Details 👉 https://t.co/VsnBIJlEwQ pic.twitter.com/ydMu4jJZ07
— BCCI (@BCCI) May 13, 2021
England displaced Australia to remain in the third spot. Australia is placed fourth. Pakistan with 94 rating points is placed fifth. West Indies winning in Bangladesh, 2-0 moved up to the sixth place (84 points), their best position since 2013.
South Africa is in the seventh position, equaling their lowest in Test with 80 rating points, while Sri Lanka is eighth (78). Bangladesh with 46 rating points is ninth just above Zimbabwe, 35 points.
India and New Zealand will face off in WTC finals in England from 18 June to 22, with 23 being a reserve day.
