Dubai: India have a chance to move up to the third position in the ICC Test rankings when they face Australia in a four-match series starting on Dec 9.
India are presently at the sixth spot and a 4-0 victory margin would take them up to 107 ratings points, one behind second-placed Australia (117) while a 3-1 win see them jump to the fourth place.
They would join England on 104 points, but would be behind by a tiny 0.4 point when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.
A 2-2 series draw would enable both sides to maintain their positions but Australia would drop to 114 while India will gain three points.
South Africa lead the standings with 124 points.
A 4-0 win for Australia would help them close the gap on South Africa to four ratings points, with India dropping to seventh, while a 3-1 margin would reduce the Proteas’ lead to six ratings points.
In Test rankings for batsmen, Cheteshwar Pujara (17th) was the highest-ranked Indian with Virat Kohli (27th) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30th) featuring among the top 30.
In the Test bowler rankings, Ravichandran Ashwin (12th) was the highest-ranked Indian with 710 points in a list headed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn (907). Ashwin is also second in the all-rounders rankings behind Shakib Al Hasan (398). (IANS)