Dubai, April 1
India have finished at the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings and taken home a prize of $1 million for the third consecutive year.
The India team, which registered its first series victory in Australia at the turn of the year, finished with 116 points on the April 1 cut-off date, eight points ahead of New Zealand, who finished second and took home $500,000. South Africa finished third with 105 points while Australia finished fourth with 104 points, a few decimal points ahead of England.
“Retaining the ICC Test championship mace once again is something we are all really proud of,” India captain Virat Kohli, who won the ICC’s cricketer, Test and ODI player of the year awards in January, said in a statement. “Our team has been doing well across formats but it gives us extra pleasure to come out on top of the Test rankings. We all know of the importance of Test cricket and of how only the best can prosper in the format.”
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said it was an “awesome” achievement for his side to finish second in the ICC Test team rankings. “As a team we should be very proud. It’s come off the back of a lot of hard work and perseverance; not just by the eleven guys on the field, but the entire squad and support staff. It’s been especially pleasing to see the consistency we’ve shown in the longest form of the game over a decent period of time,” he said.
The ICC’s World Test Championship begins in August with nine Test-playing nations taking part in 71 Test matches spread across 27 series to reach the final in 2021. — Agencies
Test team rankings
Pos. Team Points
1 India 116
2 New Zealand 108
3 South Africa 105
4 Australia 104
5 England 104
6 Sri Lanka 93
7 Pakistan 88
8 West Indies 77
9 Bangladesh 69
10 Zimbabwe 13
(as of April 1 2019)
India’s hat-trick of Test Championships: 5 Stars who made it possible
1059
Runs by Virat Kohli at 55.73 in the last 12 months were key to India remaining No. 1 on the April 1 cut-off date.
930
Runs was Cheteshwar Pujara’s contribution, at an average of 44.78. He was great in Australia, with 521 runs at 74.42.
35
Jasprit Bumrah was India’s No. 1 wicket-taker with 35 at an average of 20.57, and a best of 6/33 at Melbourne.
34
M Shami was No. 2 on the bowling charts for India, with an average of 31.58 and best innings figures of 6/56 at Perth.
33
Ishant Sharma took 33 wickets as top-3 quicks aggregated 102 wickets. R Ashwin and R Jadeja 58 wickets.
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