Australia is still number one - haters can rightfully ask why.

[vcs]

India's record:

v West Indies (a) W 2-1 (4)
Compaq Cup (vs NZ and SL in SL) - Winners (P3 W2 L1)
Champions Trophy - eliminated in group stage
v Australia (h) L 2-4 (7)
v Sri Lanka (h) W 3-1 (5)
Tri Series vs Sri Lanka & Bangladesh in Bangladesh - Runners Up (P5 W3 L2)
v South Africa (h) W 2-1 (3)
Zimbabwe Tri Series (vs Zim & SL) - 3rd (P4 W1 L3, including 2 defeats to Zimbabwe)
Asia Cup - Winners
Sri Lanka Tri Series (vs SL & NZ) - Runners Up (P5 W2 L3)
v Australia (h) W 1-0 (3)
v New Zealand (h) W 5-0 (5)
v South Africa (a) L 3-2 (5)

Would say looking at that, Australia have been way better over the last 2 years.

I think if we were to include series from a bit further back (not sure the rankings take results from that long back into account), it would look a bit better for India.

CB series (early 2008) - Winners
Some no-name tri-series against Pakistan and Bangladesh - Runners Up
Asia Cup - Runners Up
Bilateral series in SL - Won 3-2
Bilateral series at home to England - Won 5-0
Bilateral series in SL - Won 4-1
Bilateral series in NZ - Won 3-1

Australia lost home and away to SA in that time, and the CB series at home so that evens it up a bit.

 

[Spark]

Do the rankings go that far back?

We weren't ranked #1 at that time IIRC.

 

[vcs]

I don't know, which is why I mentioned it in the brackets. I guess with the ****ed up schedules, it's pretty much impossible to design a ranking system that pleases everyone.. for example, India haven't played Pakistan in a bilateral series in a long time (political reasons), have over-played recently against a pretty strong SL side, mostly in SL.. Australia haven't toured SL in a looong time, and so on. The teams are fairly close together at the top with no real outstanding No. 1, is all that can be concluded.