Australia slump further down in ICC Test Rankings

Australia slump further down in ICC Test Rankings – Australia have dropped down in the latest release of the ICC Test Rankings.

A humongous loss of 373 runs to Pakistan in the second test against Pakistan that resulted in a 1-0 series defeat has had an even worse effect than the 5 time world champions would’ve thought. Post the 1-0 loss to Pakistan the Aussies fall from third to fifth in the rankings

The latest update in the ICC Test rankings has revealed that the Aussies have gone two positions down, i.e. from 3rd to 5th. The visitors who started the series with 106 points and behind South Africa only on decimals now find themselves at 102 points.

On the other hand the hosts, Pakistan have have gained some much needed points gaining seven points [88 to 95] but remaining at the same position [7th], two points behind Sri Lanka.

In the test match schedule upcoming features are Sri Lanka playing a home test series against England whereas Aussies will host India in the biggest clash of the season in a four match test series.

The Australian team who was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when Cameron Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball and as a result was punished alongside skipper Steve Smith and David Warner haven’t been in the best shape since then.

As the summer approaches down under, big plans need to be implemented as the World’s no.1 test side, India will make sure they give it hard to their all time rivals in order to achieve maiden test series win in Australia.

On the batting front, India captain Virat Kohli continued to secure his No. 1 spot. With 935 points, Kohli has 16 more points than the No. 2 player in Steven Smith. Kohli would be looking to build on that lead during the upcoming tour of Australia.

Among the other Australian batsmen who are in the Top 10 are David Warner (No. 5) and Usman Khawaja (No. 10).

Among the bowlers, with 899 points under his belt, veteran English bowler James Anderson is still at No. 1. Australia’s Pat Cummins retained his spot at No. 6 in Test cricket. With 751 points, Josh Hazlewood has moved down the rankings to No. 11.

Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc, both of whom played the series in UAE, retained their respective spots at No. 16 and 18.

Read some of the recent Twitter reactions regarding the ICC Test rankings: