India: Deserved of No. 1?

[Uppercut]

Well, nobody's stopping Australia or South Africa from preparing turners at home to get used to and make it easier for them to beat India in India either. The reason they don't is because it doesn't suit their strengths, same as India. There's nothing wrong with it. They get away with it because the majority of teams at the top happen to have their type of pitches. If Pakistan, SL and England were the top 3 teams, would there be a call for England to abandon their current setup and prepare pitches similar to Pakistani and Lankan ones? I don't think so. And if there were, it wouldn't look pretty.

If all teams decided to prepare similar kinds of pitches, we'd have plenty of teams with good away records and less than stellar home records, and the glorious homogenization to go with it. Screw variety. Lets penalise teams that don't win away games because they choose to not be sheep.

Tbf, South Africa did come away from India with a draw (and Pakistan with a win). And I'm certainly not advocating any of the other teams as world number one.

 

[tooextracool]

I think based off recent results, you cant look past SA for the title of best team in the world. However, I am worried about their bowling attack because a lot of their results were achieved as a result of Ntini and to an extent Pollock being part of their bowling attack and neither of them will be a part of their team going forward. So they are going through a period of uncertainity and I am not sure how their newer bowlers are going to go.

 

[TT Boy]

i dont care what india is ranked, australia and south africa will always be ahead of india

+1.

 

[Burgey]

Nice reaction in the OP. Hysteria much? Thread title lacks emotion too IMO.

Good on India claiming number 1. As I understand it they now play 3 tests in about 2 years, which is a shame.

Question was asked on radio yesterday whether Indian fans will see Dravid, Laxman and/ or Tendulkar in home tests again, given the scheduling.
Interesting point

 

[Sir Alex]

I think it is a well intentioned article but poorly executed.It invariably got the hits it perhaps wanted.

 

[bagapath]

I dont care what india is ranked, Australia and South Africa will always be ahead of india

I am floored by your logical arguments. Thanks for enlightening me.

 

[Sir Alex]

Can someone please edit the thread title?

 

[Xuhaib]

atm India, SA and to an extend Aus are clearly ahead of the rest. I have no problems if any of the 3 are occupying the top spot.

 

[Xuhaib]

I dont care what india is ranked, Australia and South Africa will always be ahead of india

this= dire

Actually its refreshing there is no clear cut# 1 after what 30 years? the battle at the top between Aus,Ind and SA is quite intriguing.

 

[Zinzan]

Jesus, he's only saying India aren't the world's best cricket team. Calm down ladies.

I reckon. Talk about precious English, Australian & NZ fans...I was crucified by some Indian posters on the other thread for suggesting that whilst they maybe ranked no.1, they don't have a 'great' bowling attack. Extremely precious.

 

[aussie]

How long has it been since the current ICC ranking system was put in place ?

Not sure. I think probably 2001/02 during the then unoffical world championship series vs AUS & SA.

 

[Edged&Taken]

anyone familiar with Nostradamus prophecies? this was predicted in his Quatrain 6/24,

"From the peninsula where three seas meet, will rise the dozen who will be on the winning side,
And rise to the highest point .
A hero will march from his base, and on a very even surface conquer the clouds and seas
All rivals will fall before his lance "

 

[bagapath]

anyone familiar with Nostradamus prophecies? this was predicted in his Quatrain 6/24,

"From the peninsula where three seas meet, will rise the dozen who will be on the winning side,
And rise to the highest point .
A hero will march from his base, and on a very even surface conquer the clouds and seas
All rivals will fall before his lance "

Yeah. This has always been my favorite Quatrain. There has been a debate on whether "even surface" means a flat deck or a surface on which both bat and ball have equal chance of dominating. Pretty intense stuff I must admit!

 

[duffer]

I reckon. Talk about precious English, Australian & NZ fans...I was crucified by some Indian posters on the other thread for suggesting that whilst they maybe ranked no.1, they don't have a 'great' bowling attack. Extremely precious.

No, you said India were only #1 due to it being a weak era of Test cricket or something like that. Something you've since failed to qualify.

EDIT: And let's not forget the hilarity of the India-NZ threads when commenting on the Indian teams poor performance was somehow a slight on the pride of NZ.

 

[Sir Alex]

Yeah. This has always been my favorite Quatrain. There has been a debate on whether "even surface" means a flat deck or a surface on which both and ball have equal chance of dominating. Pretty intense stuff I must admit!

Brilliant retort macha.

 

[Zinzan]

No, you said India were only #1 due to it being a weak era of Test cricket or something like that. Something you've since failed to qualify.

Effectively the same point made that they don't have a great bowling attack, only in the other thread I elaborated on that fact by saying it suggests a relatively weak era when a side with their bowling attack are no.1.

As to failing to qualify the point, do I really need to spell-out that an attack of Sharma, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Harbhajah & Yuvraj doesn't constitute a 'great' bowling attack.

Certainly not in the same ball-park as any previous no.1 side I can remember

EDIT: And let's not forget the hilarity of the India-NZ threads when commenting on the Indian teams poor performance was somehow a slight on the pride of NZ.

You obviously didn't read my previous comment properly, because it no stage did I suggest England, Australian & of course NZ posters weren't precious & overly sensitive at times as well.

 

[duffer]

Effectively the same point made that they don't have a great bowling attack, only in the other thread I elaborated on that fact by saying it suggests a relatively weak era when a side with their bowling attack are no.1.

As to failing to qualify the point, do I really need to spell-out that an attack of Sharma, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Harbhajah & Yuvraj doesn't constitute a 'great' bowling attack.

Certainly not in the same ball-park as any previous no.1 side I can remember




You obviously didn't read my previous comment properly, because it no stage did I suggest England, Australian & of course NZ posters weren't precious & overly sensitive at times as well.

Think bagapath said it right when he commented that the current Indian bowling lineup isn't getting their due. They are actually bowling very well, regardless of their career statistics and are finding ways to take 20 wickets on supposedly dead pitches. Don't see the reason for the haterade when they are putting performances in worthy of the top team in the world.

 

[Ikki]

Hmm, in the end, if India aren't strong #1s it is hardly their fault. It's all relative; their competitors haven't been as strong so they are rightfully #1. I don't expect them to keep the ranking but good on whichever Indian sees joy in it. No need to be a buzzkill.

 

[Zinzan]

Think bagapath said it right when he commented that the current Indian bowling lineup isn't getting their due. They are actually bowling very well, regardless of their career statistics and are finding ways to take 20 wickets on supposedly dead pitches.

Don't worry, I'm a realist when analyzing players stats & usually subtract 3-5 runs (in my own mind) off Indian pace bowling averages in the same way I subtract 6-8 runs off their batsmen's averages. Even with this adjustment, I still maintain they're the weakest bowling attack of any no.1 side I can remember.

Don't see the reason for the haterade when they are putting performances in worthy of the top team in the world.

Childish behaviour to suggest someone's guilty of "hatred' because he suggests the current Indian bowling lineup isn't a great attack

 

[honestbharani]

I have absolutely no objection to India preparing pitches that suit their own strengths when playing at home. But if they're going to do it, they can't use it as an excuse for finding it more difficult than most to play away from home.

It's very, very borderline in any case. Not much to choose between the teams at all. I wonder how the CW rankings would place them.

If it is that borderline, why the hell can't people accept that we are #1 with the way the rankings work... If someone does better in the criteria set by the rankings, they will go to #1 and we will move down. Till then, we are the best test team in the world, by however little a margin, as per the ICC ratings... End of story, really... And it is not like we have lost any big series recently to say we don't deserve to be #1. Perhaps others deserve to be up there too but until they play and beat teams, we are going to be #1...


Personally, I still think it is a bit of a dead heat between RSA, India and Australia.. We all have our weaknesses and no team really stands out. But on current form, India have won more series than those two (of course, we have faced easier opposition away and at home, we are always good) but the rankings reward current performances as much as anything and that is why we are #1 and they are not.