NEW DELHI: Rohit Sharma’s India have toppled Australia to take top spot in the world Test rankings, making them the number one team in all three international cricket formats as of Wednesday.

The hosts will need to win the second match against Australia starting Friday in New Delhi to stay at the top after they hammered the tourists by an innings and 132 runs in the opener.

India will have history on their side at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium — previously Feroz Shah Kotla — where they haven’t lost a Test since 1987.

But coach Rahul Dravid said they will not get carried away by records and focus on the coming five days of action.

“We don’t look at previous history and go back in time,” Dravid told reporters. “We cannot get carried away by that. Australia are an experienced team and have good players who know they want to come back.”

India hammered Pat Cummins’ Australia inside three days during the first match to move closer to securing their berth in June’s World Test Championship final at The Oval in London.

They need to win the series 3-1 or 3-0 to make the final.

India became the top-ranked one-day team in January after their 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand, to go with their number one T20 ranking.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2023