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Pakistan rise to No. 1 in Test rankings
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Pakistan's most recent Test series was a hard-fought 2-2 draw in England © Getty Images
Pakistan have risen to No. 1 in the ICC's Test rankings for the first time. They took the top position from India, following India's
washed out Test against West Indies in Trinidad.
Pakistan had moved to No. 2 on the table last week, after
drawing the Test series in England 2-2 and after Australia were whitewashed
3-0 in Sri Lanka. At the same time, India had moved to No. 1 after beating West Indies in the
St Lucia Test to go 2-0 up in their four-match series; they needed to win the final Test, in Trinidad, to hold on to No. 1, but the match was drawn after
weather and outfield issues forced play to be abandoned over four days.
Last week was the second time in less than a year that Pakistan had moved to No. 2 on the rankings - the highest they had previously been since the current rankings system was put in place in 2003. They had featured at No. 2 for the first time in November 2015, after
beating England 2-0 in the UAE.
Their rise to No. 1 was built on the back of a run of
unbeaten Test series since August 2014, when they were down at No. 6. Apart from the successes against England, they had also beaten Sri Lanka
2-1 in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
1-0 in Bangladesh, and whitewashed Australia
2-0 in the UAE. Against New Zealand in the UAE in November 2014, the series during which Phillip Hughes died in Sydney, they had drawn
1-1.
The No. 1 rank has changed hands several times in 2016. In January, India
took over from South Africa after South Africa were defeated 0-2 by England at home. In February, Australia
climbedto No. 1 following their 2-0 win in New Zealand. They
gave No. 1 back to India following their recent 0-3 loss in Sri Lanka, and then came India's handover to Pakistan.
The ICC's ranking system takes into account matches played over the previous four years, with the oldest matches in the cycle being dropped every May. For the current cycle, matches played from May 2013 to May 2015 carry 50% weightage, while matches played since then carry 100% weightage. In May 2017, matches played between May 2013 and April 2014 will be dropped from the calculations.