Australia, India need big series wins to stay on top

Top-ranked Australia and second-ranked India will have to complete comprehensive wins in their upcoming away Test series against Sri Lanka and the West Indies, respectively, to not lose crucial points in the ICC rankings

Dubai: Top-ranked Australia and second-ranked India will have to complete comprehensive wins in their upcoming away Test series against Sri Lanka and the West Indies, respectively, to not lose crucial points in the ICC rankings.

Indian cricket team players. Pic/PTI

WI will host India in a four-Test series starting tomorrow while Australia will go head to head with SL from July 26 in a three-Test series.

India are ahead of eighth-ranked the West Indies by 44 points and Australia lead seventh-ranked Sri Lanka by 33 points, and because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, India and Australia's failure to win their series convincingly will mean they will drop points.

India will have to defeat the WI by a margin of 3-0 or better to stay at 112 points. Even a 3-1 or 2-0 win for India will see it slip to 110 points. Similarly, Australia will have to win 2-0 or better vs SL to ensure they don't go below 118 points.

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