India is No.1 in World test cricket!

[nightprowler10]

With the attack you got now, if the guys can grow a brain and start listening to Younis rather than INzy and AFridi, I think you can well be among the top 4 or 5 as well.. Juz need to find openers and ensure Younis can captain again.. Sorry, juz do not see Yousuf being all that good as captain at all..

Wouldn't mind trying Yousuf for a little while, getting sick of Younis' tantrums. He's obviously a better captain but he's been such a disruptive influence, I'm not sure that's what we need right now.

 

[honestbharani]

Wouldn't mind trying Yousuf for a little while, getting sick of Younis' tantrums. He's obviously a better captain but he's been such a disruptive influence, I'm not sure that's what we need right now.

yeah.. he has his tantrums but so would I if my team mates start putting Afridi over me, tbh.. I juz feel the future is rosier for Pak cricket with Younis at the helm than the likes of Afridi..

 

[Ikki]

Ok Ok, I am jealous.

 

[nightprowler10]

yeah.. he has his tantrums but so would I if my team mates start putting Afridi over me, tbh.. I juz feel the future is rosier for Pak cricket with Younis at the helm than the likes of Afridi..

Possibly. I think we need to start weeding out the useless seniors in the team who cause nothing but strife. I'm looking at you Malik!

 

[G.I.Joe]

Cricinfo have an article on the rankings scenario, which essentially boils down to SA needing to beat England by a margin of 2 tests or more to move up to #1. If England beat SA by a margin of even 1 test, SA will slide down to 3rd spot. Australia have a long shot at #1 provided they beat both the WI and Pakistan 3-0 at home, plus beating Pakistan by any margin in England.

To summarise, Go England!, Go WI and Pakistan!

 

[subshakerz]

With the attack you got now, if the guys can grow a brain and start listening to Younis rather than INzy and AFridi, I think you can well be among the top 4 or 5 as well.. Juz need to find openers and ensure Younis can captain again.. Sorry, juz do not see Yousuf being all that good as captain at all..

Actually, I may be jumping the gun, but I already consider Pakistan in the top 5. Certainly better than New Zealand and WI, and in the future with our attack and with Murali leaving will be better than Sri Lanka. We already have a better attack than India, its just our batting that let's us down.

 

[ret]

Actually, I may be jumping the gun, but I already consider Pakistan in the top 5. Certainly better than New Zealand and WI, and in the future with our attack and with Murali leaving will be better than Sri Lanka. We already have a better attack than India, its just our batting that let's us down.

Ford Mustang is a top sports car, it goes fast. And it certainly sporty than most family cars. With right mods, it can smoke some ports cars in a straight line (mods are expensive though). Only thing is that it's handling is not as good as the German/Italian sports cars so doesn't do that well in curves or race track conditions .... It's only the handling that's letting it down

 

[subshakerz]

India as No.1 can't be taken seriously, of course. No one can doubt that they have improved in the last few years, but until they at least draw a series in SA or Australia and win outside their country consistently, they can't have the title. SA had 12 unbeaten consecutive series before they lost recently to Australia. If India can manage something similar to that over a period of time, I think they deserve the title.

 

[ret]

India as No.1 can't be taken seriously (by me), of course. No one can doubt that they have improved in the last few years, but until they at least draw a series in SA or Australia and win outside their country consistently, they can't have the title. (Pak is way better, it's only batting that's letting it down, along with fielding. And despite it winning only 1 test is such a long time, it's still a great side. the bowling attack is way better)

edited it a little .... now looks perfect

 

[subshakerz]

edited it a little .... now looks perfect

Nah, as much as a Pakistan fan as I am, I still think India is better than us. No point having a quality bowling attack if your batting falls apart like a pack of cards.

I just think SA deserve the No.1 title more than India. India and Australia are joint no.2 for me.

 

[ret]

I just think SA deserve the No.1 title more than India. India and Australia are joint no.2 for me.

One has to respect the rankings (just like you respect a winner) .... the discussion is not whether India deserves it (which is highly subjective) but it is

Don't forget teams like SA (if it beats Eng 2-0) and Aus (if it white washes both WI and Pak) have a chance too to grab the spot back. If they do that then they would be deserving just like India deserves it at the moment

 

[AaronK]

i could say that they don't deserve it based on their bowling line up..i mean they still don't have an opening spear bowling attack..thier fast bowling is just like pakistan's bating opening problem.. but their batting is the key here and it is because of their batting that they are number one.. guys like Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni and SRT should take a bow and be proud of themselves..

 

[abol_tabol]

Congratulations to India! Thoroughly deserved. Next step for them is to beat Aus/SA in away series. That would be tremendous. Very happy for Rahul, Sachin, Laxman, Kumble and Ganguly. Well played guys! You earned it.

India's pace attack is weak and very inconsistent. Without Kumble, spin attack is also not looking that good. It'll be difficult for them to hold on this rank for a long period of time with this kind of bowling attack.

India's pace attack has never been any good. Nothing is new there. Only thing has changed in the last few years that they have a bigger pool of medium pacers now. And every now and then one of them is bowling very well in one test or a series like RP in England, Ishant against Australia, Sreesanth against Srilanka. Only Zaheer is bowling at a consistent level for quite a long period of time.

 

[aussie]

Lol, when Australia were dominating everyone was pissed off and said test cricket was boring.

Now we have a good even top 4 of Ind, SA, Aust and England and people reckon its poor era.

Never happy.

Given ENG too much credit there. SRI definately ahead, even with Murali in decline.

Solid top 3 with IND/AUS/SA it is. With each side likely to beat each other at home.

 

[jeevan]

India as No.1 can't be taken seriously, of course. No one can doubt that they have improved in the last few years, but until they at least draw a series in SA or Australia and win outside their country consistently, they can't have the title. SA had 12 unbeaten consecutive series before they lost recently to Australia. If India can manage something similar to that over a period of time, I think they deserve the title.

I'll take your number of 12 series and compare last 12 series of Ind & SA.

Indian record:India has 3 losses, 1 draw, 8 wins. It lost no home series and away losses have been to Aus,SL,SA and in each case the series score line has been 2-1. (Without an incompetent umpire in Sydney, this would've been only 2 series losses in the last 12).

Let me restate that really carefully: There has not been a single home or away series in the last 12 that India did not win a test in, and not a single series that it lost by a margin of more than one loss. (Aus or SA cannot claim this).

Away wins have been Bang, WI, Eng and NZ (which was the real bugaboo of the Indian team due to 2002).


SA record: 2 losses, 1 draw, 9 wins. (but they played Ban, Pak twice where India played them once)
SA just lost a home series to Aus. Plus they lost away to SL.
SA won in Aus (which is very creditable) but the quality of their other away wins is not that different Pak, Bang, Eng.

Let me restate one other quality of series win really carefully: SA has shut out (ie conceded no games to) Bang and NZ, thats it.
India has shut out Aus, SL, Eng, WI besides Bang, NZ.

(Australia have won 9 and lost 3 btw).

 

[Sanz]

India as No.1 can't be taken seriously, of course. No one can doubt that they have improved in the last few years, but until they at least draw a series in SA or Australia and win outside their country consistently, they can't have the title. SA had 12 unbeaten consecutive series before they lost recently to Australia. If India can manage something similar to that over a period of time, I think they deserve the title.

It doesn't matter if people take it seriously or not The fact is that India have reached there through a fair system and it is a matter of pride for fans and players no matter how long it lasts. Some thing along the lines was also said when India won the T20 World cup.

 

[Sanz]

i could say that they don't deserve it based on their bowling line up..i mean they still don't have an opening spear bowling attack..thier fast bowling is just like pakistan's bating opening problem.. but their batting is the key here and it is because of their batting that they are number one.. guys like Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni and SRT should take a bow and be proud of themselves..

I think it is even more impressive that they did it without a solid opening bowling attack.

 

[Sanz]

Actually, I may be jumping the gun, but I already consider Pakistan in the top 5. Certainly better than New Zealand and WI, and in the future with our attack and with Murali leaving will be better than Sri Lanka. We already have a better attack than India, its just our batting that let's us down.

ICC Test and ODI Championships | Cricinfo.com

 

[Black_Warrior]

People complaining about India's bowling attack especially the fast bowlers, did you guys ever see the fast bowlers India used to field in the 90s?
The only bowler who had the potential to produce match winning spells every now and then was Javagal Srinath. He was often partnered by the likes of
Venkatesh Prasad
Harvinder Singh
Abey Kuruvilla
Ajit Agarkar (though I believe he never did justice to his potential)
Debashish Mohanty
Dodda Ganesh
and many more


The likes of Zaheer, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Ishant have all produced match winning spells outside of India, which has helped India win matches in South Africa, England, Australia, New Zealand. They are improving for sure..Its not the best fast bowling attack I agree, but its improving and thats the good part.
And considering the batting that they have, a decent/above average bowling attack is good enough to win you matchces.

 

[jeevan]

I think the Indian bowling attack is being seriously short changed in this thread - possibly because of the lack of marquee names.

It is not possible to win tests without taking 20 wickets and India has won quite a lot of tests recently - home and away (of the last 12 series - every single one had a win, in the last 5 years only one series had India failing to win a test). And given that game has become batting dominated this decade, you cant have a mediocre bowling unit consistently bowl out the opposition in every sort of condition.

It's a team sport - so the collection of bowlers matters. It is a lesser detail that we occasionally have an RP or Agarkar come in to do the job or that Sehwag takes a 5-fer. It is also a lesser (though frustrating for the fans) detail for many bowlers to go through a 2 year hype-span.

The Indian batting sheet, marquee names galore, has done more than its share of effing up in these years.There seem to be as many times it has gotten dismissed for ~100 as it has put up 600 plus. The former results in a loss, half of the latter end up getting drawn.