Ravichandran Ashwin said on Tuesday that star Pakistan batter Babar Azam "should not be mentioned in the same line" as Indian icon Virat Kohli
New Zealand jumped to top spot by gaining three rating points.
ICC apologises after incorrectly naming India as No.1 Test team over Australia
India now has 430 points while New Zealand, holding the second spot, has 420 points on the table.
India have overtaken Australia to regain the top position in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings following the annual update that drops results from the 2019-20 season.
The Australia batsman has overtaken New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and is now only nine points behind India skipper Virat Kohli.
India ended 2016 as the number-one ranked Test side on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings after registering a 4-0 victory over England in the five-match series which culminated with an innings and 75 runs win for the home side in Chennai on Tuesday.
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.
Win against Pakistan pushed the Kiwis to top of the heap as they became the sixth country in the past 10 years to be ranked number one in Test cricket.
ICC World Test Championship finalists India and New Zealand remain the top two teams in the MRF Tyres ICC men's Test team rankings after the annual update on Thursday.
India retained their numero uno spot in the year-end International Cricket Council (ICC) Test team rankings on Sunday.
India have retained the fourth position in the ICC Test team rankings.
India's memorable win at The Gabba not only saw the team script history but also ensured they toppled Australia in the ICC Test Team Rankings to claim the second spot.
India slipped a rung to fifth in the latest ICC Test team rankings after the 1-3 demolition by England in the recently-concluded five-match series. They conceded six ratings points after succumbing to their heaviest Test defeat (an innings and 244 runs) in 40 years in the fifth Test of the series, which got over well inside three days at the Oval. The result helped England earn four rating points and rise two places to third.
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.
India continued to be at the numero uno position but England grabbed the fourth spot in the ICC Test Team Rankings after completing a 4-1 series victory at The Oval on Tuesday.
India will start their two-Test series against South Africa in Johannesburg on Wednesday with an aim to close the gap with the number one ranked side.
'After Adelaide we didn't discuss about what happened, we just wanted to play our game, show a good attitude, show good character on the field.'
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.
India, who registered their 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.
India captain Virat Kohli says the competition in the traditional format has "gone up two-fold" in recent years.
'We have got the bowling to take 20 Australian wickets on 1 run less than what India has scored.'
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.
Australia opened up a six-point lead over India at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings following the annual update, with the results from 2012-13 no longer included in the calculations and outcomes from the 2014-15 series weighted at 50 per cent.
The 21-year-old left-hander has gained 21 slots and reached 17th place, the joint-highest by a specialist India wicketkeeper along with Farokh Engineer, who did so in January 1973.
However, New Zealand are ahead by a thin margin, as they are now on 102.263 points and Australia are on 102.2 points.
The cricketer-turned-commentator feels New Zealand and England don't deserve to get the second and fourth spot in the ICC Test rankings as they haven't won enough Test series in the last two years.
India captain Virat Kohli held on to his second position while stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane broke into the top 10 after gaining five places in the latest ICC men's Test batting ranking released on Thursday.
India end 2016 atop ICC Test Team rankings
Pakistan has slipped from second to fourth position in the ICC Test Team Rankings after its 2-0 loss to New Zealand in their two-match series which culminated with a 138-run verdict in Hamilton on Tuesday. Pakistan, which went into the series with 109 points in the team rankings led by India (115), is now on 102 points and tied with South Africa but ahead on decimal points. England and Australia are both on 105 points with England ahead on decimal points.
The World Test Championship schedule has been thrown haywire by the COVID-19 pandemic and its much-awaited final next year will depend on the number of rescheduled bilateral series after the disruption, ICC GM (Cricket Operations) Geoff Allardice said on Monday.
Kohli trails Smith by 26 points and will have to produce a string of strong performances to leapfrog the Australian.
With the results from 2014-15 being removed from the equation and those from 2015-16 and 2016-17 being weighted at 50 per cent, India have actually stretched their lead over South Africa from four to 13 points.
The 63-run win at the Wanderers ensured that South Africa cannot move ahead of India in the ICC Test Team Rankings at the 3 April cut-off date, even if they go on to win all four Tests against Australia in March.
'It's a historic moment for them and an opportunity for us to be part of the occasion'
India have retained their second position in the ICC Test team rankings following a draw in the second and final Test today against New Zealand, which won the series 1-0.
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 retained its number-one ranking on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings following the annual update in which series results from 2013-14 are no longer included and outcomes from the 2015-16 series are weighted at 50 per cent.
Team India may have had decent run in the World Cup reaching semi-final but there is no such good news as far as the longer version is concerned where Virat Kohli's men are currently languishing at seventh place in the 10-team table.
India's dramatic win over South Africa in the third and final Test helped Virat Kohli and co to retain the ICC Test Championship mace and win an award of $ 1 million.
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