Dubai: India have suffered a double blow after failing to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final recently as a result of the series loss against Australia. They have also endured a loss in the ICC Test rankings and have slipped to the third position. 2024 was a disappointing year for the Indian team in Test cricket as they lost their six fixtures out of the last eight and also suffered a clean sweep against New Zealand at home for the first time. South Africa topped the Indian team, beating Pakistan by 2-0 in the Test series.
India commenced the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the second spot in the ICC rankings and won only one match out of the five fixtures against Australia. They started with a win in Perth but conceded defeats in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. With the series win, Australia retained their position at the top with 126 rating points. Bumrah was the sole performer of the Indian team in an otherwise disappointing show.
🚨 TEAM INDIA SLIPS TO NO.3 IN THE ICC TEST RANKINGS. 🚨
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 6, 2025
- South Africa have climbed to No.2. pic.twitter.com/PGEGe2PSWN
South Africa after beating Pakistan by 10 wickets in Cape Town, moved to second place with 112 rating points. India are at third place with 109 rating points while England is in fourth position with 106 points. New Zealand are in the fifth position with 96 rating points.
South Africa's win in Cape Town ensures that they'll finish as the leaders of the #WTC25 standings 👊#SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/ROjzzNwaMx
— ICC (@ICC) January 6, 2025
For both the WTC finalists, Australia and South Africa, home Test summer has come to an end. Australia will tour Sri Lanka for two Test matches while South Africa will have no assignments. With the series win against Pakistan, South Africa ensured that they would finish at the top in the WTC standings with 69.44 percentage points. The results of the series between Australia and Sri Lanka won’t affect their position at the top.
