India retain top spot in ICC Test team rankings, New Zealand at second position

Dubai: The ICC World Test Championship (WTC) finalists India and New Zealand are the top two teams respectively in the ICC Men's Test team rankings after the annual update carried out on Thursday. India have gained one rating point for an aggregate of 121 and New Zealand are only one point behind after gaining two points in Thursday's update, which eliminates results from 2017-18. India's 2-1 win over Australia and 3-1 win over England over the past year and New Zealand's 2-0 series wins over the West Indies and Pakistan have helped them keep ahead of the pack. The latest update, which rates all matches played since May 2020 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, sees England overtake Australia to the third position as England's 4-0 defeat to Australia in 2017-18 has dropped from the rankings. Pakistan have gained three points but remain in the fifth position while the West Indies, who beat Bangladesh 2-0 and drew 0-0 with Sri Lanka in series played this year, have moved from eighth to sixth, their best position since 2013. South Africa are in the seventh position, equaling their lowest in Test ranking history, while Sri Lanka are next on the list. Bangladesh have lost five points but remain in the ninth position while Zimbabwe have gained eight points but are still nine points behind Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the WTC final gets underway on June 18 and will continue till June 22 with June 23 kept as a reserve day. While it was initially set to be played at the Lord's, the ICC decided to move it to Southampton with an eye on the COVID-19 situation across the globe. (ANI)