ICC Test Rankings: India retains top spot, South Africa cement number two position

India maintained its Number One position in latest ICC Test ranking released on Thursday. The Indian team continued to be on top the rankings table with 123 points, six points ahead of second-placed South Africa.

The Proteas (117 points) have reduced the gap with India to six points while nine points now separate third-ranked Australia from seventh-ranked Sri Lanka as per latest ICC release.

The 9th ranked Bangladesh trailing eighth-ranked West Indies by six points. India has gained one ranking point while South Africa has leaped from 109 to 117 points. This jump means the pre-update gap of 13 points has now been trimmed to just six points.

While India and South Africa have made upward movements, Australia, England and Pakistan have headed in the opposite direction.

Australia has retained its third place but has plummeted from 108 points to 100 points, England has stayed in fourth position but has slipped to 99 points after conceding two points, whereas Pakistan has dropped behind New Zealand in sixth place after conceding four points to sit on 93 points.

The swings for Faf du Plessis's and Steve Smith?s sides have come after South Africa's 2-1 loss to Australia and Australia's 5-0 series win over England in 2013-14 have both been dropped for calculation purposes.

Sri Lanka is seventh on 91 points (up by one), West Indies eighth on 75 points (up by five), Bangladesh ninth on 69 points (up by three) and Zimbabwe 10th with zero points (down by five).