Cricket: India's #1 Ranking Fully Deserved

There’s been a lot of rubbish floating about in the press lately, essentially questioning whether India deserves to be the world’s number one test side. Perhaps today’s result lays many, if not all, of these doubts to rest.

During the second test of the Sri Lanka series, Cricinfo ran a silly debate along the lines of “Is India playing like the number one test team?”

Seriously?

The question itself is ill-conceived. There’s no such thing as 'playing like the number one test team'. India is number one. India plays a certain way. Ergo it plays like the number one test team.

What Cricinfo probably meant is—“Is the current Indian team comparable to the Australian teams under Taylor and Waugh or the West Indian team of the ‘70s and ‘80s?” The answer to that question is: “They have to stay #1 for a long while yet.”

But are they the deserved number one team in the world today? No doubt about it.

The rankings are what they are, and they are quite fair. They reward teams based on accumulated performance over the past three years. Sure, the future tours program (FTP) is not perfect. Each team has played some teams more than others. But it’s the best we have.

Over the past three years, India has played England in two series (with one win and one draw), Australia twice (with one win and one loss), South Africa twice (both drawn) and Sri Lanka thrice (one win, one loss and one draw).

These are not minnows. These are the strongest test-playing teams in the world. It's not a phenomenal record by any stretch, but it is very solid. In addition, India has played one series each against Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh, and won each.

For India to draw this series in Sri Lanka was a mighty effort. They lost the toss in all three matches and, so, had to play catch-up. The second test, in particular, was a commendable draw. One can say all they want about it being a batting wicket, but I can assure you that even on placid pitches, it’s very difficult not to lose a match once the team batting first racks-up over 600. Coming out to bat, with over three days left to play, knowing that the best you can do is to fight for a draw is not easy.

On top of Dhoni’s toss travails, the team suffered a series of injuries to key players. Without three first choice members of the bowling attack, the team struggled initially, but fought admirably throughout, and was duly rewarded in the third test. Perhaps the best things to come out of this series for India are the emergence of Mithun and Ojha as long-term prospects and some return to confidence for Ishant.

If coming back and drawing the series against a Sri Lankan team that has not lost a test (let alone a series) to any other side at home for the past four years, coupled with the circumstances described above, is not playing like the number one team in the world, then I don’t know what is. Words such as resolve, character and fight are apt.

Two big series loom against Australia at home and South Africa away. India would not be an automatic favourite to win either. But that’s just the nature of international test cricket these days—four or five teams are quite evenly matched. But, amongst these, India has been the best and most consistent overall performer over the past three years. And for this reason, it deserves to be the number one test team in the world.