India needs to beat Sri Lanka to end South Africa's challenge for the top Test spot

India goes into its three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday fully aware that it needs to win the series to retain its number-one ranking on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings.

India is presently sits pretty on the top of the tree on 123 points, while second-ranked South Africa, which is involved in its four-Test series against England, is second on 117 points. If Virat Kohli’s side wins the series against Sri Lanka, then it will end South Africa’s chances of reaching the top even if it wins the remaining two Tests against England.

However, if Sri Lanka turns the tables on the number-one ranked Test side, then South Africa will have a sniff of the top position.

If Sri Lanka beats India 2-1 or 2-0 or 1-0, then South Africa will need to beat England by 2-1 or better to surge to the top of the Test rankings. If Sri Lanka wins all the three Tests against India, then South Africa will need to draw the series against England.

On the other side of the coin, if India wins 3-0, then it will gain two points and rise to 125 points while Sri Lanka will drop two points to finish on 89 points. To retain its pre-series points, India will need to either win 2-0 or 3-0, otherwise it will lose points.

The Test team rankings, unlike the ODI and T20I rankings, are updated after the end of the series and the Test predictor function is availablehere.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings, India’s Cheteshwar Pujara will be aiming to break into the top three. The right-hander trails number-three ranked Kane Williamson of New Zealand by 34 points. Steve Smith is the number-one ranked batsman and he is followed by England captain Joe Root.

Despite missing 10th ranked Lokesh Rahul, India has Kohli (fifth) and Ajinkya Rahane (11th) inside the top 20, while the next highest-ranked India batsman is wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who is ranked 47th, while Rohit Sharma is 48th.

As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, 19th ranked Angelo Mathews is its highest-ranked batsman. He is followed by Kusal Mendis, who shares 24th place with an absent Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva (44th) and Upul Tharanga (45th).

Among the bowlers, India’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja will start as the number-one ranked bowler, leading Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Rangana Herath by 32 points.

Other bowlers who feature prominently in the player rankings and will be aiming to make upward movements include Ravichandran Ashwin (third), Dilruwan Perera (18th), Umesh Yadav (22nd), Mohammed Shami (24th), Ishant Sharma (29th), Nuwan Pradeep (33rd), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (35th) and Suranga Lakmal (36th).

**Series schedule:**26-30 July: 1st Test, Galle

3-7 Aug: 2nd Test, SSC, Colombo

12-16 Aug: 3rd Test, Pallekele

MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as on 25 July, before the start of Sri Lanka-India series):

Rank Team Points

1 India 123

2 South Africa 117

3 Australia 100

4 England 99

5 New Zealand 97

6 Pakistan 93

7 Sri Lanka 91

8 West Indies 75

9 Bangladesh 69

10 Zimbabwe 00

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings (as on 25 July, before the start of Sri Lanka-India series):

Batsmen (top 10) Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Rating

1 Steve Smith Aus 941! 61.05 941 v Ind at Dharamsala 2017

2 Joe Root Eng 886 53.57 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

3 Kane Williamson NZ 880 51.16 893 v Aus at Perth 2015

4 C. Pujara Ind 846 51.32 861 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

5 Virat Kohli Ind 818 49.41 895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

6 Quinton de Kock SA 793* 49.03 802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017

7 Hashim Amla SA 778 49.43 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

8 Azhar Ali Pak 769 46.86 787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

9 David Warner Aus 759 47.42 880 v NZ at Perth 2015

10 Lokesh Rahul Ind 739*! 44.44 739 v Aus at Dharamsala 2017

Bowlers (top 10) Rank Player Team Points Avge Highest Rating

1 Ravindra Jadeja Ind 898 23.12 899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

2 Rangana Herath SL 866 27.72 867 v Zim at Harare 2016

3 R. Ashwin Ind 865 25.22 904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

4= James Anderson Eng 826 28.27 884 v SL at Durham 2016

Josh Hazlewood Aus 826 25.39 863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

6= Kagiso Rabada SA 785* 24.09 821 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

Stuart Broad Eng 785 28.67 880 v SA at Johannesburg 2016

8 Dale Steyn SA 779 22.30 909 v WI at Centurion 2014

9 Vernon Philander SA 767 22.21 912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

10 Neil Wagner NZ 745 28.90 767 v SA at Dunedin 2017

All-rounders (top five) Rank Player Team Points Highest Rating

1 Shakib Al Hasan Ban 431 443 v NZ at Christchurch 2017

2 Ravindra Jadeja Ind 422! 422 v Aus at Dharamsala 2017

3 R. Ashwin Ind 413 493 v Eng at Mohali 2016

4 Moeen Ali Eng 379 384 v SA at Lord's 2017

5 Vernon Philander SA 351 376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

For more information, please click here.