India widen gap at the top of Test rankings

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India are now the No. 1 Test team by a larger margin than they were last month. This is a result of the ICC's annual update to the rankings, which happens on May 1 every year; India have gained four points after the update, while South Africa have dropped five points, meaning the gap between the two has increased from four to 13.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, have broken into the top eight of the Test rankings for the first time ever, going past West Indies - the team from the Caribbean has dropped to a record low at No. 9.

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The ICC's rankings system works as follows: matches played over the previous four years are taken into consideration, with the oldest matches in the cycle being left out in May of every year. For the current cycle, matches played from May 2015 to April 2017 carry 50% weightage, while matches played since then carry 100% weightage. As the No. 1 ranked team, India will receive a cash prize of USD 1 million from the ICC.

Mushfiqur Rahim, who was Bangladesh's Test captain till late last year, said the update was a fair representation of the team's form over the past few years. "I think our graph is going upwards, which is a good feeling. We have progressed quite well in ODIs. We haven't gone to that level in T20s but we did well in the last T20 tournament. But in Tests, the progress has been over the last four-five years. It is showing in our ranking.

"As it isn't possible to improve by playing one good series, our focus should be on working harder. We need to work that much more to climb up in the rankings. We have those players with the ability to take us further."

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