ICC chief greets India for being No.1 in Test rankings

[Choppers]

ICC chief greets India for being No.1 in Test rankings

Indiaabroad, Indo Asian News Service, 19 February 2010

Dubai, Feb 19 (IANS) International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat Friday congratulated India on finishing as No.1 team in the Test Championship table following their innings victory over South Africa in the Kolkata Test.

South Africa finished in second position at the cut-off date of April 1 in the ICC Test Championship. India, after losing the first Test at Nagpur, needed to win the second at Kolkata's Eden Garden to retain the top postion in Tests. They won, with just nine balls to spare, in a thrilling conquest Thursday.

It is also the first time in seven years that Australia have not finished the season as the number-one Test-playing side in the world.

'I have written to both the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), congratulating them on an outstanding series. The final Test in Kolkata again underlined the unique attraction of Test match cricket, which is the pinnacle of our great sport,' Lorgat said Friday.

'This titanic struggle follows on similarly captivating Test matches in Cardiff, Centurion, Cape Town, Sydney, Perth and Dunedin and demonstrates once again why Test match cricket captivates broadcasters, media, spectators and television viewers across the globe,: he said in his message.

'Test cricket continues from strength to strength and I believe that the competitiveness of the sort we witnessed in Kolkata underlines that belief. Congratulations to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and India on their remarkable achievement,' he said.

LINK

 

[Choppers]

Sehwag becomes No.1 Test batsman
Indiaabroad, Indo Asian News Service, 19 February 2010

Dubai, Feb 19 (IANS) Indian opener Virender Sehwag dislodged his batting partner Gautam Gambhir from the top of the International Cricket Council's Test rankings for batsmen to take the number one spot.
Sehwag, who struck back-to-back centuries in the just concluded two-match Test series against South Africa, jumped five places for the No.1 position. Sehwag shot up 52 rating points.
Gambhir's lacklustre form in the series against South Africa saw him drop four places to fifth position.
Another big mover was Hashim Amla, who climbed eight places to occupy the second position. Amla had a phenomenal series against India, scoring 490 runs with two centuries and one double-hundred and getting out only once. The South African middle order batsman, who was the man of the series, is 21 rating points behind Sehwag.
Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawerdena and Kumar Sangakkara were pushed to third and fourth places.
In the bowling charts, Harbhajan Singh after his spectacular performance in the second Test at Eden Garden, where he claimed eight wickets, jumped five places to seventh position.
South African Dale Steyn maintained his top position with a stellar show in the first Test in Nagpur where he got 10 wickets.
Australian Mitchell Johnson and Pakistan's Mohammad Asif are placed second and third.
India's Zaheer Khan remained at sixth position.

 

[Imran Khan]

congs from me india be stable there and don't give chance to whites again.cheers

 

[DavyJones]

Great achievement by India.
India needs to play more test matches to cement it's position at number 1. We have an excellent batting line up these days. But remember that 3 batsmen are close to retirement (2 -3 years max). Can India be a world beating test team after they retire ?
The replacements are inexperienced and cannot be expected to do well abroad. India needs to start grooming youngsters while the senior players are still around.

 

[true_striker]

india have reached this place in a grand style... and when RSA arrived here as a challenge, we accepted it and proved to the world tht right now we are the best...

i hope, we face aussies soon both in tests and in ODIs,


am waiting to see ponting getting screwed by Dhoni's men in blue..