India Not Yet No. 1 In Tests; ICC Apologises For Technical Error

Dubai: A red-faced International Cricket Council (ICC) had to apologise on Thursday for erroneously showing India to be No. 1 team in Test rankings.

The ICC website displayed India having displaced Australia as the top-ranked team in Tests. Since they were already topping the white-ball formats — ODIs and T20 Internationals – it made them No. 1 in all three formats.

However, ICC rectified the error and stated that Australia are still on top of ICC Test Team Rankings after the latest update following the conclusion of Zimbabwe’s two-match series against the West Indies.

The ICC acknowledged that for a short period of time on February 15, India were erroneously displayed as the No. 1 Test team on its website due to a technical error.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” ICC said.

Australia will thus take the field in the second Test against India, starting in Delhi on January 17, as No. 1-ranked team with 126 rating points — 11 above India’s 115.

India, who won the opening Test in Nagpur by an innings and 132 runs, will have to win the four-match series convincingly to actually grab the numero uno Test spot and also qualify for the final of ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23.

Australia are also in fray for a place in the WTC final, to be played at London’s Oval from June 7 to 11.