1st Test	India	v	New Zealand
Pre-rating	1195.4		1029.7
Form	+26.7		-3.3
Expected Margin	India 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.	India	1195.4
2.	Australia	1190.6
3.	Pakistan	1152.2
4.	England	1143.3
5.	South Africa	1113.1
6.	New Zealand	1027.1
7.	Sri Lanka	981.7
8.	West Indies	826.1
11.	Bangladesh	613.3
12.	Zimbabwe	534.8
9.	Ireland	628.1
10.	Afghanistan	622.9
13.	Scotland	396.1
14.	Namibia	306.5
15.	Kenya	276.4
16.	Papua New Guinea	228.1
17.	U.A.E.	225.9
18.	Hong Kong	217.0
19.	Netherlands	179.0
20.	Canada	147.9

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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