What does being #1 really mean?

By CAM

Ahh, the ICC rankings – all that pride in getting to the top and all the hoopla surrounding it!! There is even an ICC prize for the topper. Truly deserving you think? Some seem to think so! I am not so sure!!

Is this business of ranking really everything it is cracked out to be? Does this mean the best team is on top? I really don’t think so. It may be fair to say that the top ‘three’ in the rankings are the ‘three’ best teams and the bottom three are the three worst.

One must always account for the fact that the schedule of matches played most recently has a lot if not everything to do with where a particular country shows up on the table. A packed schedule with much lower ranked teams does not say a whole lot. Another factor that must not be ignored is what it really means to play a ‘home’ series versus playing an ‘away’ series. While the India-South Africa series can be considered as a true test to the rank held by both countries, the fact remains that the last India-SA series was also a home series for India and India managed a 1-1 tie. South Africa won (2-1) the last series played by the two countries in South Africa. For India to cement themselves as the better team, they must be able to win a test series at home and in South Africa.

When speaking of India-Australia, the same holds. Can India actually win a series in Australia? They did win the home series against the Aussies in 2008, but really, can they convincingly win in Sydney and Melbourne?

The recently concluded Bangla-India series should not be seen as one to confirm India’s position on top. All it means is that India is a better team than Bangladesh. Come to think of it, in that series, the Indian players should consider themselves as pretty fortunate to have gotten to 243 in the first innings of the first test. They could potentially have been cleaned up for a lot less. They have of course SRT to thank for their good fortune on that occasion. And, as the series progressed, some irresponsible batting by the Bangladeshis certainly played in India’s favor.

For India, to truly test their mettle, the objective analyst would love to see them win consistently, both home and away, against the majority of other teams in world. Let this happen and you are now talking. We can then equivocally state that they are the best test cricket playing team in the world!!