India not so long ago was the number one Test team in the world, now they are at number four behind England, South Africa and Australia. It is notable that India toured South Africa and England still being the number one side, but lost their tag after their miserable outing in England.
Australia’s tour was also a disappointing one and with eight continuous losses India has slipped down to number fourth in the rankings. The latest Test rankings shows things will not be easy for India for India in coming future.
Only Sachin Tendulkar (who is at number 11) is in the list of top-20 Test batsmen and that sends alarming signals for the Indian team. Indian batting has struggled in the recent times and that reflects in the rankings. Rahul Dravid who was the highest run-getter in the year 2011 has retired recently and there have been talks that Sachin should also call it a day from International cricket.
People will say that the ratings does not show the true picture because India has not played a Test match from past few months, but there are three South Africans in the top seven (AB de Villiers at number 3, Jacques Kallis at number 4 and Hashim Amla at number 7) who have also not played a Test match in the recent past. It is also a fact that apart from India and Bangladesh all the other Test Playing nations have at least one player in the top ten.
Sachin who is fighting it out in the rankings will not play for too long and the rest of the batsmen in the Indian team are no way near the top performers in the world and that proves how difficult it is going to be for India in the coming matches.
When it comes to bowling, India is lacking the edge here as well. Test matches are won by taking 20 wickets and it is a known fact that Indian bowlers have been struggling from the past few series. When it comes to Test rankings India have two bowlers in too 20, with Zaheer Khan at number 11 and Pragyan Ojha at number 20. But one should consider the fact that Zaheer always has injury issues and Ojha not picked in the playing eleven very often.
The next in the list is Harbhajan Singh at number 23, but he has been dropped from the team because of his performance will struggle to make a comeback into the squad.
Indian players are struggling to compete with their counterparts and the youngsters will have to start performing soon for India to make a strong comeback in the most demanding form of cricket.
By Indian Sports News Network
