Test rankings

…are real crap. As per the annual update the Lankans are # 3 and Indians are # 4. How come that happened ?

A look at their record suggests they played 2 against Australia and lost. Drew in WI, won 2-0 against BD, that’s their default scoreline. Who bothers and then 2-1 win against India, thanks to the disgusting referral decisions (26 – 3 in favor of SL). They beat Pakistan 2-0 but then Pakistan weren’t at the top of the table.

Amazing man.

India won against England 1-0 twice, 2-0 against Australia, 1-0 against Pakistan, drew 1-1 against SA and lost 1-2 against Australia (should have won 2-1) and Sri Lanka. Beating strong teams doesn’t count? Winning 2-0 against top team doesn’t count and losing 0-2 against them counts. Wow man. And yes 1-0 in NZ too.

I believe the ICC doesn’t look into the quality of the opposition. It just sees the rankings how and which team beat when and what numbered. Bizzare. Rankings are biased towards Sri Lankans. Out of nowhere Kulasekra becomes # 1 in ODIs, Sangakara leaps to # 1 out of nowhere. MoYo returns and becomes # 1. Guys like Gambhir who have been in platinum form are briefly numbered 1. Chandu forever remains in top 10. Tendulkar despite being in tremendous form in 2008 – 09 never jumps to top 10. Sehwag lingers on 20s and Laxman never reaches top 15. Dravid who was in peak form from 2002 – 2006 hardly became # 1.

Who said India rules the cricket world ? There is no other Test team other than India and South Africa who have got better results anywhere. Look at the performance of this 2 teams in Australia. India won in Perth, something which no one was able to do besides fading Windies of 1991. India did in 2008, SA repeated in 2009. If there was no Bucknor, India would have won Sydney in 2004 and then again in 2008. England lost 0-5 in 2006 in Australia. SL lost 0-2 in 2008 when Murali got only 4 wkts. Pakistan lost 0-3 in 2004-05.

Look at India’s performance in Tests. They have been the best of teams in the pure real cricket over last 2 years. And they drop to # 4. And then contrast that with SL who play boring draws everywhere and win only in their own home conditions and Bangladesh. There is no comparison even. Yet they go up to # 3. A 2-0 or 3-0 win later this year would be apt result for India and set this crap stuff right.