Shubman Gill is the flavour of the season after his stupendous show in the recent Test series against England but he will face a contender in Axar Patel for vice-captaincy
The humiliating 0-4 whitewash at the hands of Australia resulted in India dropping a rung to third spot in the ICC Test rankings with Michael Clarke's team breathing down their neck just a fraction of a point behind in the table.
India and England managed to retain top spots in the Test and ODI team rankings respectively, following the annual update of the ICC rankings on Thursday.
The ICC is considering awarding bonus points for innings victories or for a win above a certain big margin such as 100 runs.
Labuschagne has regained the No. 1 position after Root overtook him in mid-June with successive centuries against New Zealand.
This is Ravichandran Ashwin's sixth stint at the top of the rankings. He first became number one in December 2015.
Former No. 1-ranked Test batter Marnus Labuschagne will be pushed up in the order to open alongside Usman Khawaja.
'If you end up finding yourself in the position where you happen to be in that World Test Championship final, then it is great, but it is a real weird one knowing that you are playing for something over a long period of time.'
India opener KL Rahul made a leap of 18 slots, after his Player-of-the-Match effort that helped India defeat South Africa by 113 runs in the first Test, to reach No. 31 among batters in the latest ICC Test rankings.
Harry Brook matched the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's career-high of 898 rating points in the ICC Test batting rankings.
Pakistan becomes only the fifth team after Australia, England, India and South Africa to top the ICC Test rankings since these were introduced in 2003.
The 28-year-old cricketer's ODI runs came at an average of 57.86 and an impressive strike rate of 95.15.
Mohsin Naqvi stated that there are no concerns about BCCI secretary Jay Shah becoming the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman.
England have a chance of displacing India from their current No 2 position in the ICC Test Team Rankings table if they can win the upcoming Ashes series against Australia 4-0 or better.
Former West Indies all-rounder and two-time T20 World Cup winner Dwayne Bravo lashed out at Cricket West Indies (CWI) for replacing Rovman Powell with Shai Hope as the T20I captain of the side.
Indian cricket team stands a chance of making big gains in terms of International Cricket Council (ICC) Test ranking if they manage to register a 3-1 victory over Australia in their ongoing four-match series.
Suresh Raina has been in red hot form in the last few months having scored four half-centuries on the trot in the ODIs against England and broken into the top 10 of the ICC ODI batting rankings for the first time in his career.
Australian batsman Mike Hussey has rejected the ICC's Test rankings, which place his team at fifth, saying that the Aussies are "definitely better than that and the system is not a true reflection of their form."
India will retain their number two position in the ICC Test Team Rankings if they win or draw the upcoming two-match series against New Zealand, starting in Auckland on Thursday.
The competition at the top promises to gain momentum as World No 2 Ben Stokes has also made huge gains to attain a career-best tally of 431 points, narrowing the lead from 66 to 54 points.
India women will be keen to internalise the conditions and character of venues in England ahead of next year's World Cup during the five-match T20I series against the hosts, beginning with the opening game on Saturday.
Ricky Ponting though added that captaincy will be the "hardest thing" for the premier fast bowler.
'It's a historic moment for them and an opportunity for us to be part of the occasion'
South Africa's run to the WTC final has been driven by their dominant performances, especially at home. In those matches, their potent pace attack, featuring Kagiso Rabada (37 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 19.8) and Marco Jansen (29 wickets in 7 matches), has proved to be a game changer.
Her entire cricketing journey flashed before former spinner Neetu David's eyes when she became only the second Indian woman to be inducted into the ICC's Hall of Fame.
Captain Ricky Ponting has promised to maintain Australia's aggression against the West Indies in the team's quest to climb back to the top of the ICC Test world rankings.
Virat Kohli became only the second batsman in the history of the game to cross the 900-point mark
Nathan McSweeney is on the brink of a major debut, set to partner Usman Khawaja as Australia's opening batters in the series against India.
The current WTC system awards the same number of points -- 12 for a win, six for a tie and four for a draw -- which has given rise to discontent that India, England and Australia -- the Big Three in cricket -- "are disadvantaged as they play more games against each other".
Pakistan's batting great Javed Miandad is not happy with the present ranking system of the International Cricket Council even though the team has just become the number one ranked side. Miandad said while he was happy that Pakistan, despite the many problems it was facing as a cricket nation, had topped the test ranking table, the ICC needed to come out with a better system. "The present system is not satisfactory as there is not a proper system to rank a team on the matches it plays on home and away basis," he told PTI.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the third Test against Australia in Brisbane?
Sachin Tendulkar, whose batting records and impact on international cricket have stood the test of time, was on Saturday conferred with the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award
West Indies spinner Fabian Allen on Wednesday moved into the top 10 of the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings after featuring in his team's fine showing in the ongoing five-match series against Australia.
England toppled Pakistan from second spot in the LG-ICC Test rankings after taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-Test series.
Kane Williamson is the second New Zealand batsman after Glenn Turner to top the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen following a man of the match performance in the Hamilton Test against Sri Lanka, which helped the home side win by five wickets and take the series 2-0.
Bangladesh teenage spin sensation Mehedi Hasan rocketed into the 33rd position in the rankings for Test bowlers after bowling Bangladesh to their first-ever victory over England on Sunday
The Stuart Broad show in Johannesburg not only destroyed South Africa but also dethroned the Proteas from the No.1 Test rankings. Now India, with 110 rating points, are the No. 1 team in ICC Test rankings, with Australia one rating point shy in second place. India had defeated South Africa 0-3 at home in December, which saw the lead enjoyed by the Proteas cut to just four points. Thus South Africa had to either draw or win the four-Test home series to retain the No. 1 position. Even if the hosts win the last Test, a 2-1 series defeat will mean they will slip to 109 points, behind India and Australia, who are both on 110 points.
India and New Zealand will battle it out for the prestigious title at Southampton on June 18.
India stalwart Virat Kohli retained his second spot in the ICC men's ODI batting rankings on the back of his decent performance in the recently-concluded three-match series in South Africa.
It will be a battle for world supremacy when an injury-hit India, determined to protect is number one Test team's status, take on second-placed South Africa in the first of the two-match series starting in Nagpur on Saturday.
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