India Hangs on to the Top Spot
In December 2009 former Indian cricket greats had warned http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 & Co., “it is tougher staying at the top than reaching there”. India had just clinched the series against Sri Lanka 2-0 then and risen to the numero uno position in ICC test rankings. The position was hard earned and all the cricket playing countries cheered the achievement. Now team India is experiencing how tough it is to remain at the top as each test match puts its status in to question.
Dhoni knew the pressure will be always there on the top ranking team to retain its position. As a level headed captain he hasn’t allowed complacency to creep in to the attitude of the team. But that doesn’t seem to be enough and Dhoni cannot be happy despite India’s current status.
Safe for the Moment
ICC declared the test rankings on July 30th after the annual ranking calculations. India has retained its top ranking. Even losing the current series against Sri Lanka is not going to affect its standing.
India has garnered 130 points and is ahead of the second ranked http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 by 11 points. The annual point calculation system has helped India gain an additional 6 points and push the points earned from 124 to 130. For the moment India is safe at the top spot.
But how Long
This, however, should not give a false sense of security. Serious contenders like South Africa and Sri Lanka are trying relentlessly to reach the acme. Interestingly, Sri Lanka, the team which helped India’s ascendancy to the top slot, is poised to achieve this soon if India keeps losing matches. Australia and England are also in the fray. The question now is: how long can India hang on to the top slot?
When points are calculated again at the end of the Sri Lanka-http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 series, as per the norms, India’s rating points could slide down. Even a win in the third test will bring its rating points down to 127, thanks to its first test loss and a drawn second test against Sri Lanka in the on going series.
A draw in the second test will push down the rating points to 124 and a loss to 122 rating points. Sri Lanka would climb to the third position even if Indian wins the third test. And if Sri Lanka wins the third test it will be just one point away from India’s rating points of 122. That is pretty close.
Sri Lanka has only 111 rating points in comparisons to India’s 130. But if they could challenge India, it is not a hard guess that Australia with 113 rating points would pose questions to India’s test ranking supremacy when they meet in India in October.
Area of Vulnerability
India’s batting line up is formidable. With the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman, Gambhir, Dhoni, and Raina there is hardly any reason to worry on that front. The area of concern is its bowling, which is proving to be the c***k in the armor.
The wickets were flat for both the teams and yet http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 could bundle off India for paltry totals in the first test. The second test against Sri Lanka proved that India can post a total of 700+ runs but cannot take twenty wickets.
To win a test match a team should have bowlers who can take twenty wickets conceding as little runs as possible. When http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 team that ruled the roost in the 1980s. While batsmen like Gordon Greenidge, Clive Llyod, and Vivian Richards, piled tons of runs Marshal, Garner, and Holding ripped the rival batting.
Many cricket pundits feel that India is at the top by its sheer batting strength. India needs to come up with effective bowlers to solidify its position at the top and convince critics that it has not reached there by fluke or default.
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