Pakistan claim No 1 Test ranking for the first time
Pakistan has topped the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings for the first time after wet ground at the Queen Park Oval, Port of Spain, denied India the opportunity to defend the top spot which it had reclaimed from Australia on 17 August, according to an ICC press release issued yesterday.
The result of the fourth and final Test means India won its series against the West Indies by 2-0, finishing on 110 points one behind Pakistan and two ahead of third-ranked Australia. Following the Sri Lanka-Australia series, India had needed to win the Port of Spain Test to retain the number-one Test ranking.
India had entered the series on 112 points, 44 points ahead of eighth-ranked West Indies. And because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, Indias failure to win by a better margin has resulted in it dropping two points and the West Indies earning two points.
The Port of Spain Test has also brought down curtains on what has been highly competitive and entertaining six weeks of Test cricket in four different parts of the globe which saw the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings top spot change hands three times inside five days.
In Africa, New Zealand beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in Bulawayo, England and Pakistan played out an absorbing two-all drawn series in England, Sri Lanka swept aside Australia 3-0, while India beat the West Indies 2-0 in the Caribbean.
For Pakistan, Misbah-ul-Haqs side has become only the fifth team after Australia, England, India and South Africa to top the ICC Test rankings since these were introduced in 2003. Pakistan has dropped to as low as seventh three times in the past 13 years with the last being in January/February 2010 following the three-Test series in Australia 10 months before Misbah took charge of the side.
Pakistans steady progress to the top of the summit can be judged from the fact that it had entered in its home series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October 2014 in sixth position, while it was ranked fourth when it hosted England in a three-Test series last year in the UAE.
Misbah was delighted to become the first Pakistan captain to inspire his side to the top of the Test rankings, when he said: There is no greater feeling than to achieve the number-one ranking in the most traditional and purest format of the sport. This is what cricketers play for and want to achieve in their careers.
