India eye top three spot in Tests

Dubai, Dec 7 (IANS) India have a chance to move up to the third position in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test rankings when they face Australia in a four-match series starting in Adelaide Dec 9.

India are presently at the sixth spot and a 4-0 victory margin would take them up to 107 ratings points, one behind second-placed Australia (117) while a 3-1 win see them jump to the fourth place.

They would join England on 104 points, but would be behind by a tiny 0.4 point when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

A 2-2 series draw would enable both sides to maintain their positions but Australia would drop to 114 while India will gain three points.

South Africa lead the standings with 124 points.

A 4-0 win for Australia would help them close the gap on South Africa to four ratings points, with India dropping to seventh, while a 3-1 margin would reduce the Proteas’ lead to six ratings points.

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) rankings were released here Sunday.

In Test rankings for batsmen, Cheteshwar Pujara (17th) was the highest-ranked Indian with Virat Kohli (27th) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30th) featuring among the top 30.

In the Test bowler rankings, Ravichandran Ashwin (12th) was the highest-ranked Indian with 710 points in a list headed by South Africa's Dale Steyn (907). Ashwin is also second in the Test all-rounders rankings, 41 points behind Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (398).