India and Australia need comprehensive wins in upcoming series so as not to lose points in team rankings

The West Indies will host India in a four-Test series starting in Antigua on Thursday, 21 July, while Australia will go head to head with Sri Lanka in Pallekele from 26 July in a three-Test series. India is ahead of eighth-ranked the West Indies by 44 points and Australia leads seventh-ranked Sri Lanka by 33 points, and because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, India and Australia’s failure to win their series convincingly will mean they will drop points.

India will have to defeat the West Indies by a margin of 3-0 or better to stay at 112 points. Even a 3-1 or 2-0 win for India will see it slip to 110 points. On the other hand, a 3-1 or 2-0 win by the West Indies will see it rise to 79 points with India dropping below the 100-point mark to 98.

Similarly, Australia will have to win 2-0 or better against seventh-ranked Sri Lanka to ensure it does not go below its current 118 points. In contrast, even Sri Lanka’s 1-0 win over Australia will earn it seven points and move to 92 while Steve Smith’s side will slip to 111 points.

With England and Pakistan already involved in a four-Test series in England, major shake-up on top of the Test table is on the cards depending how the three series pan out.

Meanwhile, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be gunning for the No.1 spot in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers as an interesting contest promises to develop with Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who wrested the top spot following a 10-wicket haul in the Lord’s Test that ended on Sunday.

Yasir is seven points ahead of Ashwin with three more matches to go against England. One will have to wait and see how long the two can continue the rare occurrence of two spinners at the top. The last time slow bowlers took the top two slots was in March 2006 when Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran and Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne peaked to number-one and two positions, respectively.

India’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is the other India bowler inside the top 10 in sixth spot, while fast bowler Ishant Sharma is ranked in 20th place.

For the West Indies and in the absence of an injured 21st-raned Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor will start the series as his side’s top-ranked bowler in 24th place.

India’s Ajinkya Rahane will be the top-ranked batsman from either side in 12th spot and hoping to break back into the top 10. India captain Virat Kohli, who has been ranked No.1 in both ODIs and T20s but never higher than eighth in Tests, will also be looking to improve his current ranking of 14th.

For the West Indies, stylish left-hander Darren Bravo is in 23rd spot, while Kraigg Braithwaite is 32nd and the experienced Marlon Samuels 43rd.

The Sri Lanka-Australia series will see several leading batsmen in action, including skipper Steven Smith, who is the top ranked batsman in the MRF Tyres ICC Rankings for Test Batsmen. Adam Voges (sixth) and vice-captain David Warner (eighth) have opportunities to improve their rankings, while Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews is the only batsman from his side inside the top 10 in 10th position.

Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood in eighth position is the highest-ranked bowler in the series, but team-mates Nathan Lyon (12th), Mitchell Starc (14th) and James Pattinson (19th) all have enough incentive to move up the ladder.

The player rankings will now be updated following the conclusion of Antigua and Old Trafford Tests.

Series schedule:

West Indies vs India

21-25 July - 1st Test, Antigua

30 July- 3 Aug 3- 2nd Test, Kingston

9-13 Aug – 3rd Test, Gros Islet

18-22 Aug - 4th Test, Port of Spain

Sri Lanka vs Australia

26-30 July – 1st Test, Pallekele

4-8 Aug – 2nd Test, Galle

13-17 Aug – 3rd Test, Colombo

MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as of 19 July 2016, before the start of India-West Indies and Sri Lanka-Australia series)

Rank   Team               Points

1.     Australia            118

2.     India                  112

3.     Pakistan             111

4.     England             108

5.     New Zealand       98

6.     South Africa        92

7.     Sri Lanka             85

8.     West Indies          65

9.     Bangladesh          57

(Developed by David Kendix)

Note: Zimbabwe has 12 points but has not played the required eight Test matches over the new rating period to be included on the main table. It will reflect on the table as soon as it plays two more Tests

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 19 July, before the start of India-West Indies and Sri Lanka-Australia series)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      HS Rating

   1         Steve Smith         Aus        925        60.18    936 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   2         K. Williamson     NZ         868        49.23    893 v Aus at Perth 2015

   3         Hashim Amla      SA         860        51.45    907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   4         Joe Root               Eng        820        52.20    917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   5         AB de Villiers     SA         818        50.46    935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

   6=       Younus Khan       Pak        811        53.64    880 v SL at Lahore 2009

              Adam Voges        Aus        811*!    95.50    811 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

   8         David Warner      Aus        800        50.06    880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   9         Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak        786        49.07    842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

  10        Angelo Mathews SL          765        48.70    877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

Other selected rankings

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      HS Rating

  12        Ajinkya Rahane   Ind         753!      44.97    753 v SA at Delhi 2015

  14        Virat Kohli          Ind         725        44.02    784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  18        Murali Vijay        Ind         697        41.09    747 v SA at Bengaluru 2015

  19        C. Pujara              Ind         696        47.45    851 v SA at Durban 2013

  20        D. Chandimal      SL          664        44.60    690 v NZ at Dunedin 2015

  23        Darren Bravo       WI         639        41.50    709 v Aus at Trinidad 2012

  27        Usman Khawaja  Aus        608*     49.54    613 v NZ at Wellington 2016

  31        Joe Burns             Aus        575*!    49.29    575 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

  32        K. Brathwaite      WI         574        34.40    591 v Eng at Grenada 2015

  34        Shikhar Dhawan  Ind         572*     40.87    593 v SL at Galle 2015

  36        Kaushal Silva      SL          540        31.94    638 v Pak at Colombo (PSS) 2015

  41        Shaun Marsh       Aus        516*     37.72    537 v WI at Hobart 2015

  43        Marlon Samuels  WI         510        33.53    672 v Zim at Barbados 2013

  46        J. Blackwood       WI         479*     33.33    575 v Eng at Barbados 2015

  49=      R. Ashwin            Ind         466        31.68    527 v Eng at Old Trafford 2014

              Kusal Mendis      SL          466*!    30.81    466 v Eng at Lord's 2016

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         Avge      HS Rating

   1         Yasir Shah           Pak        878*!    23.00    878 v Eng at Lord's 2016

   2         R. Ashwin            Ind         871!      25.39    871 v SA at Delhi 2015

   3         James Anderson  Eng        868        28.33    884 v SL at Durham 2016

   4         Stuart Broad        Eng        859        28.34    880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

   5         Dale Steyn           SA         841        22.53    909 v WI at Centurion 2014

   6         Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         789*!    23.76    789 v SA at Delhi 2015

   7         Trent Boult          NZ         757        29.14    825 v Eng at Lord's 2015

   8         Josh Hazlewood  Aus        741*     25.77    792 v WI at Hobart 2015

   9         Morne Morkel     SA         724        29.33    776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

  10        Vernon Philander SA         717        22.08    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

Other selected rankings

Rank     Player   Team                   Pts         Avge      HS Rating

  12        Nathan Lyon        Aus        690        32.87    696 v NZ at Wellington 2016

  13        Rangana Herath   SL          671        30.18    851 v Pak at Colombo (SSC) 2014

  14        Mitchell Starc     Aus        658*     30.58    692 v NZ at Adelaide 2015

  18        D. Prasad             SL          601*     35.97    632 v WI at Colombo (PSS) 2015

  20        Ishant Sharma      Ind         579        36.90    671 v WI at Dominica 2011

  24        Jerome Taylor     WI         515*     34.46    717 v Eng at Jamaica 2009

  25        Dilruwan Perera  SL          495*     29.56    531 v Pak at Galle 2014

  31        Amit Mishra        Ind         462*     33.96    467 v SA at Nagpur 2015

  33        Umesh Yadav      Ind         441*!    36.05    441 v SA at Delhi 2015

  34        Nuwan Pradeep   SL          432*!    43.63    432 v Eng at Lord's 2016

  35        M. Shami             Ind         431*     36.14    467 v Aus at Sydney 2015

  39        Shaminda Eranga SL          404*     37.49    541 v Eng at Headingley 2014

  43        Suranga Lakmal  SL          375*!    49.38    375 v Eng at Lord's 2016

  45        Devendra Bishoo WI         372*     38.05    426 v Ind at Delhi 2011

  46        D. Chameera        SL          369*     27.28    377 v Eng at Headingley 2016

  50        Mitchell Marsh   Aus        329*     34.52    349 v WI at Melbourne 2015

All-rounders (top five)

Rank     Player                  Team     Pts         HS Rating

   1         R. Ashwin                  Ind   406        419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

   2         Shakib Al Hasan        Ban  384        419 v Zim at Khulna 2014

   3         Stuart Broad               Eng  277        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012

   4         Vernon Philander       SA   275*/     376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

   5=       Ravindra Jadeja        Ind    259*/*!  259 v SA at Delhi 2015

              Ben Stokes                Eng   259 /*    276 v SA at Centurion 2016