India and Australia are set to face each other in the World Test Championship (WTC) final starting from June 7 at The Oval in London. The two teams are already in the UK gearing up for the summit clash with the second edition of WTC culminating. India are currently the number one ranked team in Test cricket with 121 points while Australia are behind them with 116 points.
However, Rohit Sharma and his men will have to be careful as their numero uno position in red-ball cricket is under immense threat. If India end up losing the WTC Final, Australia will reach 119 points leveling with India who will also lose two points.
Australia will then be involved in the Ashes series starting from June 16. If Pat Cummins and his troops managed to win the first Test, Australia will replace India to become the top ranked team in Test cricket. However, overall, Australia will have a tough task to remain at number one position.
They will have to win the Ashes in England to do that or make sure they do not lose more than two Test matches to England. Notably, the last time they played in England, Australia retained the Ashes with a 2-2 result in the five-match series. So they will be upbeat about bettering their record in England this time around.
Meanwhile, India will have to just win the WTC Final to retain their No.1 ICC Test ranking as Australia will then have to win Ashes by 5-0 margin to climb to the pole position which is close to imposible given England's form in the format. Team India will be hoping to end their ICC trophy drought having last won the global event back in 2013. They even contested in the inaugural WTC Final but lost to New Zealand a couple of years ago.
Latest ICC Rankings:
| Rank |
Team |
Rating Points |
| 1 |
India |
121 |
| 2 |
Australia |
116 |
| 3 |
England |
114 |
| 4 |
South Africa |
104 |
| 5 |
New Zealand |
100 |
| 6 |
Pakistan |
86 |
| 7 |
Sri Lanka |
84 |
| 8 |
West Indies |
76 |
| 9 |
Bangladesh |
45 |
| 10 |
Zimbabwe |
32 |
