There has been a lot of nonsense written about why India does not deserve to be the best test team in the ICC Rankings. Example here. There have been a lot of rebuttals as well. Example here. This post is yet another rebuttal of the same.
Let’s look at batting for a while. In the past three years, starting 01 Jan 2007, five of the top ten run scorers in the Test format, excluding runs scored against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and WI, have been from India. SL, SA, Australia, England, and WI have one each in the top 10. Not too bad I would say. Even the great Ricky Ponting is on the 15th step, which really makes you wonder why no one calls him over the hill anymore, but I digress. A team that has the best batsmen of the last three years must have something in it.
| Rank | Player | Country | Mat | Inns | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 |
| 1 | V Sehwag | India | 21 | 38 | 2137 | 319 | 57.75 | 91.52 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | SR Tendulkar | India | 26 | 47 | 2126 | 160 | 50.61 | 54.96 | 6 | 12 |
| 3 | DPMD Jayawardene | SL | 18 | 31 | 2081 | 275 | 74.32 | 52.06 | 7 | 6 |
| 4 | VVS Laxman | India | 29 | 50 | 2053 | 200* | 52.64 | 49.86 | 4 | 15 |
| 5 | JH Kallis | SA | 22 | 39 | 2009 | 186 | 55.80 | 49.50 | 8 | 9 |
| 6 | MJ Clarke | Aus | 24 | 40 | 1983 | 145* | 55.08 | 51.33 | 7 | 10 |
| 7 | R Dravid | India | 29 | 54 | 1966 | 177 | 40.12 | 41.07 | 4 | 11 |
| 8 | S Chanderpaul | WI | 22 | 37 | 1933 | 147* | 71.59 | 42.06 | 7 | 13 |
| 9 | G Gambhir | India | 14 | 27 | 1869 | 206 | 71.88 | 50.91 | 7 | 7 |
| 10 | KP Pietersen | Eng | 22 | 40 | 1830 | 152 | 46.92 | 55.92 | 7 | 3 |
| 11 | KC Sangakkara | SL | 17 | 29 | 1793 | 192 | 64.03 | 56.03 | 7 | 7 |
| 12 | SC Ganguly | India | 21 | 41 | 1761 | 239 | 47.59 | 59.01 | 3 | 9 |
| 13 | AJ Strauss | Eng | 22 | 40 | 1757 | 177 | 45.05 | 45.45 | 5 | 8 |
| 14 | HM Amla | SA | 22 | 40 | 1730 | 176* | 48.05 | 47.51 | 5 | 11 |
| 15 | RT Ponting | Aus | 24 | 41 | 1699 | 150 | 42.47 | 60.78 | 4 | 11 |
Now for the bowling. The list is much more evenly distributed this this. Three of the top ten bowlers, with same filters as above, are from India, with SA claiming another three, Australia two, and England and SL one each. Though bowling still remains a concern for the Indians, it is no better for the other teams. SA is arguably the strongest in this department, but then with Steyn injured and Ntini fading quickly, they might not enjoy the same status for long.
| Rank | Player | Country | Mat | Inns | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Ave | Econ | SR | 5 | 10 |
| 1 | Harbhajan Singh | India | 23 | 41 | 1209.5 | 182 | 3465 | 105 | 33 | 2.86 | 69.1 | 4 | 1 |
| 2 | MG Johnson | Aus | 23 | 44 | 942.4 | 168 | 2937 | 104 | 28.24 | 3.11 | 54.3 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | DW Steyn | SA | 17 | 32 | 598.2 | 107 | 2119 | 96 | 22.07 | 3.54 | 37.3 | 7 | 3 |
| 4 | Z Khan | India | 22 | 40 | 821.4 | 168 | 2640 | 83 | 31.8 | 3.21 | 59.3 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | JM Anderson | Eng | 22 | 41 | 839.4 | 174 | 2867 | 82 | 34.96 | 3.41 | 61.4 | 4 | 0 |
| 6 | M Ntini | SA | 22 | 42 | 724.5 | 142 | 2527 | 76 | 33.25 | 3.48 | 57.2 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | A Kumble | India | 18 | 33 | 902.3 | 147 | 2767 | 72 | 38.43 | 3.06 | 75.2 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | PL Harris | SA | 22 | 37 | 828 | 172 | 2290 | 71 | 32.25 | 2.76 | 69.9 | 3 | 0 |
| 9 | B Lee | Aus | 15 | 30 | 612 | 117 | 1941 | 67 | 28.97 | 3.17 | 54.8 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | M Muralitharan | SL | 15 | 25 | 808.4 | 123 | 2381 | 67 | 35.53 | 2.94 | 72.4 | 4 | 1 |
| 11 | Danish Kaneria | Pak | 13 | 25 | 759.4 | 124 | 2278 | 62 | 36.74 | 2.99 | 73.5 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | RJ Sidebottom | Eng | 14 | 25 | 582 | 140 | 1573 | 60 | 26.21 | 2.7 | 58.2 | 4 | 1 |
| 13 | FH Edwards | WI | 18 | 32 | 507.3 | 61 | 2020 | 59 | 34.23 | 3.98 | 51.6 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | MS Panesar | Eng | 20 | 33 | 782 | 141 | 2305 | 58 | 39.74 | 2.94 | 80.8 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | CS Martin | NZ | 18 | 32 | 652.2 | 142 | 2061 | 57 | 36.15 | 3.15 | 68.6 | 0 | 0 |
The thing to note is that this data is for a three year period, and not for a one off year. So its not really a flash in the pan, but rather some sustained good performances by the Indian team. During this period, India has played an almost equal number of tests home (15) and away (14), so there is no real home advantage for the team.
I know that statistics don’t really tell everything, but they do tell you a few things, and what it does tell here is that India really has been a world’s best team for the past couple of years, even though SA are right on their tails.
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