India No. 1 in Test Ranking

India managed to get on to the no. 1 spot in the test rankings by beating Sri Lanka 2-0 in the recently concluded test series. Its the first time India has reached the top ranking and only two other teams - Australia and South Africa - have managed to get to the no. 1 spot since the introduction of these rankings in 2001.

This ascendancy to no. 1 started in 2001 when Sourav Ganguly's team stopped the Australian Juggernaut of Steve Waugh who were rolling along with 16 consecutive victories in tests. Who can forget the performances of Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid in arguably the best series of modern times. Specially the 2nd test at Kolkata when India came back from a follow-on to defeat the mighty Aussies. VVS Laxman's 281, Rahul Dravid's supporting act, Harbhajan "The Turbanator" hat-trick and the flurry of wickets which he used to take whenever he came to bowl is unforgettable. This killer instinct and the belief to be no. 1 was instilled by Sourav Ganguly during this era. India started winning test matches overseas during his tenure in Australia, West Indies and England but they never were able to win a series there. The other notable achievement was winning a series against the arch rivals Pakistan in Pakistan for the first time in more than 55 years. Then came Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble who in my view were just short-term replacements so that a next generation captain could be appointed which eventually was MS Dhoni. MS Dhoni has taken forward the legacy of Sourav Ganguly and has managed to raise it by one more level. Now, India has the batting talent to stay at top with people like Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. The bowling is decent with bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh. On their day these bowlers can prove to be a handful.

Now the big question - Is India no. 1 in tests?. I rather doubt it, for various reasons. Firstly India doesn't have a bowling attack that can dismiss quality batting line-ups twice in 5 days on batting friendly pitches. Secondly, India is yet to win a series in Australia and South Africa, though they have managed to win a test match in their previous trips. Another reason is that the batting which is looking so good nowadays is mainly because of presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid And VVS Laxman in the middle order. These all-time greats would retire in 2-3 years, and then they would be replaced by younger guys like Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma etc.etc. who are no match for these all-time greats, this would leave a big hole in the Indian batting line-up. According to me Murali Vijay is a nice exciting prospect in test cricket and he should be developed by keeping an eye on the future. I believe that the batting which is our main strength would come under a lot of strain within 2-3 years, people like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina are not suitable for test cricket as they are technically not correct and also they have that one-day and 20/20 mentality of hit-every-ball philosophy. Another area of concern is that India doesn't play that many test matches as compared to Australia and South Africa so that also reduces their chances of staying at no.1.

To conclude i would say that these ranking doesn't matter in the long run. India is a seriously good team, but i don't think it is the best team in the world. Indian team is one of the best along with other teams like Australia and South Africa. When India starts beating Australia and South Africa in their own backyard on a regular basis, then India will be no. 1 for sure.