India have a chance to climb to second place in the ICC Test Championship table
Wisden Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2005India have a chance to climb to second place in the ICC Test Championship table. If they win their four-Test home series against Australia they will climb to second, beating their previous-best of fourth.The table as it stands:
Position Team Rating 1 Australia 129 2 England 109 3 Pakistan 107 4 India 104 5 Sri Lanka 103 6 South Africa 102 7 New Zealand 94 8 West Indies 73 9 Zimbabwe 51 10 Bangladesh 1
If India win all four matches their rating would climb from 104 to 115, while Australia’s would fall from 129 to 119. A narrower winning margin would obviously leave a bigger gap between the sides, but even if India only win the series by a one-Test margin (1-0 or 2-1) they will boost their rating to 111 – still good enough for second place. If India merely draw the series, they will still go up one spot, to third. Australia, on the other hand, have to win 3-0 or 4-0 to improve their rating.Full scenarios for the India v Australia Test series:
| Result | India | Australia |
| Current rating: | 104 | 129 |
| Possible series outcomes: | ||
| India wins 4-0 | 115 | 119 |
| India wins 3-0 | 114 | 120 |
| India wins 2-0,3-1 | 112 | 122 |
| India wins 1-0,2-1 | 111 | 123 |
| Drawn 0-0,1-1,2-2 | 108 | 126 |
| Australia wins 1-0,2-1 | 105 | 128 |
| Australia wins 2-0,3-1 | 103 | 130 |
| Australia wins 3-0 | 102 | 131 |
| Australia wins 4-0 | 100 | 132 |
