Best team in the world across all formats of cricket
Ever since the greats of the Australian team of the noughties retired, one after another, it has been tough to recognise a particular side as undisputedly being the best team in the world. In addition to that notion, there are three different formats being played at the international level currently and a few teams find it hard to properly distribute the talent they possess across the board.
Recently, Cricket Australia came up with the interesting concept of comparing batsmen and bowlers based on their ICC rankings across the three formats of the game. But considering there is so much debate on which is the best team in the world, we thought to ourselves – how would such a table, comparing the top 8 countries in cricket, look like?
While the ICC rankings are the still the primary source of comparison, we have also ranked teams on two other parameters; win percentage and the CEAT cricket ratings.
ICC Rankings
The ICC rankings are perhaps the best way to judge teams in the world as it is a universally accepted system based on a well-explained algorithm.
India come out on top based on this parameter, finding themselves in the top half of the rankings in every format of the game. While Australia are ahead of MS Dhoni’s men in two formats, their lowly ranking in T20Is sees them fall below India when you look at the entire picture.
South Africa, who are the number one team in the world in Tests aren’t in the top 3 in either of the limited overs formats, which pushes them below India and Australia. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England find themselves in mid-table in all formats and are 4th, 5th and 6th respectively in the overall rankings.
New Zealand and West Indies are the two bottom teams and have some catching up to do.
| Rank | Country | Test | ODI | T20I | Overall |
| 1 | India | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | Australia | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 3 | South Africa | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 6 | England | 5 | 5 | 8 | 18 |
| 7 | New Zealand | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| 8 | West Indies | 8 | 8 | 7 | 23 |
Record (since January 2012)
Another parameter to judge teams would be the traditional method of looking at their recent record. How do we define recent? Well, we have considered results post New Year’s Day from 2012, which in our view is a good period of time where teams would need to be consistent over a period of 31 months.
South Africa have the best win percentage from all teams across the three formats of the game. Having won 51 matches from a total of 96, the Proteas have been the most consistent side over the last couple of years. Having regained their place at the top in Tests under Hashim Amla, South Africa would be hopeful of putting old ghosts behind them and coming out on top in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.
West Indies and New Zealand are the bottom two teams here as well, with the Caribbeans pipping the Kiwis to the seventh spot.
| Rank | Team | Matches | Won | Win % |
| 1 | South Africa | 96 | 51 | 53.12 |
| 2 | India | 93 | 48 | 51.61 |
| 3 | Australia | 106 | 52 | 49.05 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 112 | 53 | 47.32 |
| 5 | England | 113 | 48 | 42.48 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 87 | 35 | 40.23 |
| 7 | West Indies | 80 | 29 | 36.25 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 87 | 29 | 33.33 |
NOTE: Results against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and associate nations haven’t been included.
CEAT Cricket Ratings
The CEAT Cricket Ratings have been around since 1995 and are widely respected by fans and critics.
Despite Sri Lanka having a lowly ranking when it comes to Test cricket, they find themselves at the top of the table by being at the summit in the shorter formats. South Africa’s ratings here are identical to their ICC Rankings and are second.
| Rank | Country | Test | ODI | T20I | Overall |
| 1 | Sri Lanka | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | South Africa | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | Australia | 2 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| 3 | Pakistan | 8 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | India | 6 | 2 | 7 | 15 |
| 6 | England | 3 | 6 | 8 | 17 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 4 | 8 | 5 | 17 |
| 6 | West Indies | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 |