How did India become the No. 1 Test Side?

[sumantra]

Really, this is a question I have been pondering over for quite a while now.

India have won 3 test matches outside sub-continent and lost 17 since 2011 England tour (out of the three, two came against W.I in 2016), In last 7 years they played 23 tests in England, Australia, N.Z and S.A combined and won only 1, lost 17. Guess winning havoc at home and in Sri Lanka is good enough to make you Number 1 test side in the world now-a-days...

Does it indicate a general declination in the overall performance of all sides? We all know about the great Australian side but even the earlier Indian generation that became no. 1 won a lot of test matches outside sub-continent. From 2002 to 2010 they won 13 test matches outside sub-continent.

Do they give you more points if you are winning overseas or do they not? Or is it that nobody's winning away from home these days? India being the strongest at home grabbing all the points?

 

[Burgey]

You can only play what’s put on front of you. Inod a has benefited from playing at home the past 18 months and has dominated there. In an era like the current one where most sides bar SA struggle away from home, it’s not that surprising those performances put them to number one.

 

[smash84]

Yeah, pretty much everyone bar SA have sucked away this last decade. And nobody has been quite as dominant at home as India. Hence they are number 1.

 

[Slifer]

What smali said.

 

[sphynx]

They've barely travelled in 2 years, that's how.

When they have travelled they've travelled to SL, Bangladesh and WI, essentially all Asian conditions these days.

Until SA, they hadn't travelled outside asian conditions since Australia 14-15.

12 series ago

 

[Slifer]

Really, this is a question I have been pondering over for quite a while now.

India have won 3 test matches outside sub-continent and lost 17 since 2011 England tour (out of the three, two came against W.I in 2016), In last 7 years they played 23 tests in England, Australia, N.Z and S.A combined and won only 1, lost 17. Guess winning havoc at home and in Sri Lanka is good enough to make you Number 1 test side in the world now-a-days...

Does it indicate a general declination in the overall performance of all sides? We all know about the great Australian side but even the earlier Indian generation that became no. 1 won a lot of test matches outside sub-continent. From 2002 to 2010 they won 13 test matches outside sub-continent.

Do they give you more points if you are winning overseas or do they not? Or is it that nobody's winning away from home these days? India being the strongest at home grabbing all the points?

Lets look at the other contenders over a similar time-frame.

Eng: smashed away to Oz and India, drew in Bangladesh. Drew at home to PAK and lost a test to minnow WI.

RSA: smashed away to Eng and India. Should've drawn away to nz. Did however beat Oz away.

Oz: lost close series away to India. Lost home to RSA. Smashed away to SL and drew in Bangladesh.

So based on the above and India's record in the same period, India do deserve to be number one. I doubt they'll keep it though and there is no team that is likely to be an undisputed number 1.

 

[Spikey]

Everyone sucks nowadays

 

[Athlai]

The $$BCCI$$ rig the rankings so it only counts for time periods that are most beneficial to India.

 

[Black_Warrior]

It's unfair to pick on just India on an overseas defeat. However, if you genuinely want to understand how India became number 1 and not just as a way to mock them, the rankings are as much a product of favourable scheduling which in turn are a result of negotiation power when FTPs are decided. As such, India, Australia and England get the most favourable scheduling, which allows them to benefit from a healthy number of home series every year. They also play against the top ranked sides at their homes, so winning against them gives them more points than say a Sri Lanka would get by beating Bangladesh at home.

This allows them to always have enough in the bank to be among the top 3-4 ranked sides in the world even after away series losses. For example India will remain number 1 even after losing 0-3 in this series because

1) After playing 2 years mostly at home where they did not lose a series, they had a huge buffer at the top
2) Because they are playing against the number 2 ranked side, losing against them means they don't lose a lot of points.

India's rest of the year involves playing England and Australia. Even if they lose against them, because they are still generally higher ranked than the rest, India still won't lose a lot of points and should still remain among the top 3-4 sides in the world.

England are not as high as India, Australia because they don't have as clean a home record. E.g England never win their home Ashes 5-0 like Australia do. England win more like 3-2 or 3-0 which gives them less points for their home wins compared to Australia who never even lose a test match at home except against South Africa.

South Africa have a decent FTP after the Big 3 so basically the next 4 years, the top 4 teams will be India, Australia, South Africa and England. Not necessarily in that order but various combinations within that.

 

[stephen]

One quirk of the ranking system is that if Australia were hosting India and thrashed them 4-0 right now they would get more points than doing so in a years time after India have lost points by being thrashed by South Africa.

Australia have a schedule which is 5-6 home tests followed by a similar number of away tests every year. India's schedule crams a lot of their home tests into a shorter time frame and then a lot of their away series into a shorter time frame. What that means is that Australia's rating is a bit more steady while India's is a bit more spikey (assuming a majority of home wins and away losses).

 

[stephen]

Also, Australia's ranking tanked hard after our 3-0 loss to Sri Lanka while they were ranked 8.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Since they toured Australia 2014-15, India have had ten series either at home (six series) in 'fortress India', or against minnows on tour (four series). This Freedom Trophy is effectively the first away series for India against top-flight opposition since January 2015. During that same period, England have played three top-flight sides away (South Africa, India, Australia), Australia two (England, India) and South Africa three (India, Australia, England) - and that is not including the two ''mercurial'' sides, Pakistan and New Zealand, who have hosted each of those sides once.

 

[Black_Warrior]

One quirk of the ranking system is that if Australia were hosting India and thrashed them 4-0 right now they would get more points than doing so in a years time after India have lost points by being thrashed by South Africa.

Australia have a schedule which is 5-6 home tests followed by a similar number of away tests every year. India's schedule crams a lot of their home tests into a shorter time frame and then a lot of their away series into a shorter time frame. What that means is that Australia's rating is a bit more steady while India's is a bit more spikey (assuming a majority of home wins and away losses).

But Australia also get more points for winning in South Africa who are ranked higher than them than India would by doing the same.
Also, if India are still ranked higher than Australia by the time of their series, then Australia should still earn more points by beating them at home.

 

[sphynx]

Lets look at the other contenders over a similar time-frame.

Eng: smashed away to Oz and India, drew in Bangladesh. Drew at home to PAK and lost a test to minnow WI.

RSA: smashed away to Eng and India. Should've drawn away to nz. Did however beat Oz away.

Oz: lost close series away to India. Lost home to RSA. Smashed away to SL and drew in Bangladesh.

So based on the above and India's record in the same period, India do deserve to be number one. I doubt they'll keep it though and there is no team that is likely to be an undisputed number 1.

Oz also beat RSA away, NZ away and lost 3-2 to Eng away, which you left out.

They cop a lot of **** for their away form, but were probably the toss in Bangalore away from winning that entire tour away in India in my opion.

They cop **** for 3-0 vs Sri Lanka, fact of the matter is, Sri Lanka won all 3 tosses of that series. A touring side hasn't won batting second in Sri Lanka since India did it almost 8 years ago. Even when RSA won there (and were lauded for there performance there 4 years ago with Steyn and co), they won 2 of the 3 tosses.


Oz are a fair shot to beat RSA as well in March. Warner loves RSA and Smith is in the form of his life, there's not much between the bowling units at all.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Oz also beat RSA away, NZ away and lost 3-2 to Eng away, which you left out.

They cop a lot of **** for their away form, but were probably the toss in Bangalore away from winning that entire tour away in India in my opion.

They cop **** for 3-0 vs Sri Lanka, fact of the matter is, Sri Lanka won all 3 tosses of that series. A touring side hasn't won batting second in Sri Lanka since India did it almost 8 years ago. Even when RSA won there (and were lauded for there performance there 4 years ago with Steyn and co), they won 2 of the 3 tosses.


Oz are a fair shot to beat RSA as well in March. Warner loves RSA and Smith is in the form of his life, there's not much between the bowling units at all.

Lol there are a lot of factual inaccuracies in your post and you're drawing a lot of inaccurate conclusions.

A touring side hasn't won batting second in Sri Lanka since India did it almost 8 years ago.

In 2015, Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for 3 test matches which they won 2-1. In both their wins, they batted last. In the second test which they lost, they won the toss and batted first.

1st Test, Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka at Galle, Jun 17-21 2015 | Match Summary | ESPNCricinfo

3rd Test, Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka at Kandy, Jul 3-7 2015 | Match Summary | ESPNCricinfo

Even when RSA won there (and were lauded for there performance there 4 years ago with Steyn and co), they won 2 of the 3 tosses.

There were only 2 test matches in that series. South Africa won the toss and won the first test. But they also managed to bat out for a draw in the second test after losing the toss. This is a worthy performance too - not being bowled out on Day 5.

You're making too much out of the toss really. If you're a good side, you will either manage to chase 370 batting last, or manage to bat out the day and draw

 

[stephen]

That 3-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka is the low point of Australian cricket in my lifetime. There was nothing to salvage from that series really.

Losing to South Africa at home was far more forgivable than that Sri Lanka series.

 

[cnerd123]

In 2015, Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for 3 test matches which they won 2-1. In both their wins, they batted last. In the second test which they lost, they won the toss and batted first.

1st Test, Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka at Galle, Jun 17-21 2015 | Match Summary | ESPNCricinfo

3rd Test, Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka at Kandy, Jul 3-7 2015 | Match Summary | ESPNCricinfo

I thought we established that cricket involving Pakistan doesn't matter?

 

[randycricfreak]

Australia were no1 when they were beaten by SL 3-0

SL at the time was no.7 in the rankings

 

[Victor Ian]

I've always thought the ranking was weighted towards recent performances. Is that not true?

 

[StephenZA]

I've always thought the ranking was weighted towards recent performances. Is that not true?

Yes.I think it takes into account your last 4/5 years with last 2/3 years as full points and the previous as half-points.....

I don't think that India are undeserved #1. They have beaten everybody in the subcontinent, and their scheduling has resulted in and 'easy' #1 place. Whereas all the other teams (SA, Aus, Eng) vying for that spot have had some inconsistent results home and away. They will probably drop a couple of spots in the next year, but that will also depend on how the SA/Aus series goes. If SA can win here in SA against Aus and beat SL in SL have a good shot of going top. even with the recent loss to Eng. If Aus beat SA and destroy India can see them going top. Eng i`m unsure about.