Australia surpass India to become No.1 ranked Test side in latest ICC Rankings
Australia continued their dominating recent run by surpassing India to become the No.1 ranked Test side in the latest ICC rankings. Both teams have been in action in red-ball cricket, with the Aussies claiming an unassailable 2-0 series lead over Pakistan at home and India drawing their Test series in South Africa 1-1.
The current ODI world champions held the top spot briefly after they defeated India in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June last year. Australia also retained the Ashes urn in the following series in England with a 2-2 draw.
Meanwhile, India defeated Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy at home early last year. However, a drawn game in the West Indies and their inability to win the recent series in South Africa has resulted in the Aussies dethroning them to the mountaintop.
Australia are also on course to win the final Test against Pakistan in Sydney, which could further extend their lead. Yet, the battle for supremacy could go back and forth over the next two months, with the Indians returning home to face off against England in a five-match Test series and the Aussies playing the lowly West Indies in a two-match affair at home.
It is also worth remembering the Aussies broke Indian hearts in the ODI format by defeating them in the recent World Cup final by six wickets to clinch their sixth title.
Nevertheless, India continues to have the bragging rights in the recent head-to-heads between the teams in Tests, winning the last four series, including two down under.
Team India will likely tour Australia for a five-Test series at the end of 2024
While the schedule is still unconfirmed, Team India will travel down under to face off against Australia in the five-Test series from November 2024 to January 2025.
The two dominant forces of world cricket have traded blows against each other for the right to be proclaimed the best side. While the Aussies have caused plenty of pain to India in the ICC events, including twice last year in the WTC and the ODI World Cup, the story has been quite the opposite in bilateral Tests.
Since winning the home Test series in 2014/15, the Australians have failed to reap success against the Asian giants. They suffered Test series defeats in their last two visits to India by 2-1 margins in 2017 and 2023.
However, the bigger surprise comes from their inability to conquer India even on home soil, losing the 2018/19 and 2020/21 series.
All this adds tremendous excitement to the series at the end of the year to see if India can make it a hattrick of Test series wins in Australia.