The long Indian summer begins; ratings 22nd September
Russell Degnan

1st TestIndiavNew Zealand
Pre-rating1195.41029.7
Form+26.7-3.3
Expected MarginIndia by 133 runs

The most immediately striking thing about the two lineups announced for this Test is the depth of batting. New Zealand come in with three spinners and two seamers (one too many, surely, when the spinners could operate for long periods), and a short batting lineup that will depend on runs from Santner and Craig to support the top.

India, by contrast, have Jadeja at nine. Although Ashwin isn't capable of batting at six, he is nearly perfect as a classy and attacking number seven, with more to work with below. This depth underlines why India is the number one rated side, and at home this should be a comfortable series. New Zealand, for all their improvement under McCullum, remain below the standard of the top handful of sides. While Sodhi and Santner are promising bowlers, neither have stellar records, and the optimistic view of this trip is as a useful learning experience.

Rankings at 22nd September 2016
1.India1195.4
2.Australia1190.6
3.Pakistan1152.2
4.England1143.3
5.South Africa1113.1
6.New Zealand1027.1
7.Sri Lanka981.7
8.West Indies826.1
11.Bangladesh613.3
12.Zimbabwe534.8

9.Ireland628.1
10.Afghanistan622.9
13.Scotland396.1
14.Namibia306.5
15.Kenya276.4
16.Papua New Guinea228.1
17.U.A.E.225.9
18.Hong Kong217.0
19.Netherlands179.0
20.Canada147.9

Shaded teams have played fewer than 2 games per season. Non-test team ratings are not comparable to test ratings as they don`t play each other.

Cricket - Ratings - Test 22nd September, 2016 15:04:26   [#] 

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