Losing a Test to Pakistan hurt, but Australia (73.7) continue to reign supreme in the Rediff Test Rankings; chiefly because the ranking scheme looks at a wider performance window than the ICC Reliance Mobile rankings.
Although India currently tops the official ICC Test Rankings, Australia continue to stay on top of the Rediff Test Rankings. There's a simple enough explanation for this: the ICC and Rediff Ttest rankings are calculated based on different formulae. ICC accords the highest weightage to recently won Test matches; the Rediff rankings consider a much wider window spanning the most recent home-away series between every pair of teams.
Australia remain on top in the Rediff Test Rankings after thrashing both West Indies and Pakistan at home. India share the second place with South Africa after only managing to draw the recent home series.
England retained the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings after their eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo resulted in the two-match series ending in a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Almost all leading Indian batsmen, save Rahul Dravid, slipped in the latest Reliance ICC Test rankings for batsman, released on Tuesday. Their shoddy performance in the just-concluded Test series affected their individual rankings, with Sachin Tendulkar dropping a spot to fifth place.
Following his fine show with the bat in the fourth cricket Test against England in Manchester, India's Ravichandran Ashwin became the No 1 Test all-rounder in ICC rankings published on Monday
India jumped one place to second on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings table after winning the two-Test series against the West Indies 2-0 in Mumbai on Saturday.
India received a cheque of US $265,000 for finishing third on Tuesday, while South Africa pocketed US $475,000 for claiming the top position in the ICC Test Team Rankings at the April 1 cut-off date. While South Africa finished as the number one team, Australia, as the No 2-ranked team, won US $370,000.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has reclaimed the No 1 position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the fourth time in his career after brilliant knocks in the second Test against New Zealand. The Sri Lanka captain followed up his half-century in the first innings with an exquisite 109 his 20th Test century to reclaim the top position from India's Gautam Gambhir.
The Indian cricket team has a chance to go up a rung and be third in the ICC rankings if it beats England in the upcoming five-Test series starting July 9.
Gautam Gambhir is the first India batsman in over four years to head the batting rankings after a double failure by Mohammad Yousuf saw the Pakistan ace drop out of the top three in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 of the latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings as he continues to lead the way in the all-rounders list.
India's Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa's Jacques Kallis remain jointly atop the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen with 883 points each. Kallis also retained his top spot in the list of leading all-rounders in Test cricket.
India opener Virender Sehwag has stormed into the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after scoring a superlative double-century against Sri Lanka in the third Test in Mumbai.
Pakistan vaulted into third position in the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings, its best Test ranking in seven years, following the conclusion of its series against Australia in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Pakistan, who defeated Australia for its first series win in 20 years, leapfrogged England, Sri Lanka and India into third position after the feat earned it seven ratings points.
Jacques Kallis is South Africa's highest-ranked batsman, replacing Graeme Smith in the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. The 34-year-old, who scored 120 and four in the Centurion Test against England, climbed three places to eighth in the latest rankings.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat feels that India's No 1 ranking in Test cricket is certainly on line after back-to-back defeats against England at Lord's and Trent Bridge, but the quality of the contest is pretty enthralling.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith on Thursday received the ICC Test Championship mace and prize money of USD 450,000 for leading the team to the top spot in ICC Test rankings on the annual cut-off date of April 1.
Sri Lanka has put more distance between it and England following its 2-0 series victory over Pakistan, which concluded with a draw in the third Test in Colombo on Friday. Kumar Sangakkara's side, which remains in fourth position, gained three ratings points and moved to 111, stretching its lead over fifth-placed England to 10 points and bringing it within just six of India, which currently occupies third position on the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table.
India slipped to 124 ratings points after conceding one ratings point, while South Africa stay second on 120 ratings points.
India may have slipped to fourth in the Test rankings following the drawn Test in Fatullah, but its openers, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, achieved career-best rankings for batsmen.
Australia captain Michael Clarke has reclaimed the top spot in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen that were released on Tuesday after the completion of the Hobart and Nagpur Tests.
England's James Anderson has displaced India's Zaheer Khan to claim third place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers.
South Africa retained the iconic Reliance ICC Test Championship mace and with it won a cash award of $500,000 following its 2-0 series win over the West Indies in Cape Town on Tuesday.
England captain Andrew Strauss and his team were presented the ICC Test Mace by Haroon Lorgat, the ICC Chief Executive and Rod Riley, Executive Senior Vice-President - Reliance Communications, after England completed a 4-0 series victory over India in the fourth Test at The Oval and confirmed their position as the number-one team in the Reliance ICC Test Rankings.
Good times are here for the Men in Blue! Their dominating performance against England coupled with Australia's shock loss to Zimbabwe made India the sole No 1 team in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued in Dubai.
Australia captain Michael Clarke got his hands on the Reliance ICC Test mace, on Wednesday, a symbol of his side's status as the number-one ranked Test side in the world.
Michael Clarke regained the No. 1 ranking in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after a spectacular performance in the second Test between Australia and South Africa, which ended in a thrilling draw in Adelaide on Monday.
India's iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar and fast bowler Zaheer Khan returned to the top 10 of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship after the two-Test series against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Wednesday. Tendulkar, who started the second Test in 13th position, jumped four places to ninth after hitting his 45th career century.
When you are defending to save a game, a loose delivery comes along and you suddenly opt to play an attacking shot, you are unlikely to hit as well as if you were playing your naturally aggressive game all along. First Pant, then Jaiswal, found that out the costly way, observes Prem Panicker.
The young India opener, who scored 206 and 36 in the drawn third Test against Australia, rocketed 11 places to 18th in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. He started the series in 37th position but climbed 18 places after three Tests in which he has scored 463 runs.
South Africa batsman Hashim Amla moved within four ratings points of becoming the number-one ranked batsman in the Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings for Test batsmen, which were released on Tuesday, at the end of the series between Australia and South Africa.
India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar moved into third position in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, which were released on Wednesday. The 37-year-old from Mumbai scored 98 and 38 in the Mohali Test, which India won by one-wicket on Tuesday.
India's Virat Kohli jumped nine places to achieve his career-best 11th spot in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen issued on Monday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side enters the series in number one position, leading Graeme Smith's side by four ratings points. But the home side will drop to second if the Proteas win the series 1-0 or better.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has regained the top spot from India's Sachin Tendulkar in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after the top order batsman scored an impressive 150 against the West Indies in his side's drawn match at R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's match haul of 12 for 85 against New Zealand in the first Test in Hyderabad helped him vault 19 places to a career-best 25 in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, which were released on Monday.
The emerging nations compete against each other in the International Cricket Council's Inter-Continental Cup 2015-17 scheduled, with the winners getting a chance to play the bottom-ranked Test team on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings in the ICC Test Challenge in 2018.
India pacer Ishant Sharma gained nine places in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers and now sits in 16th position, just behind the other big mover of the day, Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.
A first Test series triumph in India since 1984-85 helped England consolidate its number-two position in the Reliance ICC Test Championship table. The series loss kept India in fifth place, with 105 rating points, after dropping one point. This has opened up a four-point gap with fourth-ranked traditional rival Pakistan.