Dubai, Jan 13: India has moved up to second in the latest ICC Test championship table announced today, despite successive losses to Australia.
India are 0-2 down in the ongoing four-match series against Australia, but made the leap after South Africa conceded a match to West Indies in their 2-1 series win on Saturday.
India are level on points with third-placed Sri Lanka but are ahead of Mahela Jayawardane’s team when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point.
South Africa has slipped two places to fourth in the table.
The proteas went into the series against West Indies in second position knowing that they needed to win it at least 2-0 in order to maintain that lead.
Having lost the first test in Port Elizabeth, South Africa did well to win the series with victories at Cape Town and Durban.
But such is the weighting system when playing teams further down the table that it means that the South Africans lost one ratings point in the latest table.
Given how tight it was with just two ratings points separating South Africa in second place and England in fifth, that single point has made a big difference to the table.
Australia is still way out in front of the rest on 143 ratings points, some 34 points clear of its nearest rival.
The ICC test championship table:
1. Australia (143), 2. India (109), 3. Sri Lanka (109), 4. South Africa (108), 5. England (107), 6. Pakistan (94), 7. New Zealand (91), 8. West Indies (73), 9. Bangladesh (4).
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