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India and Pakistan have now played 49 Tests, spaced over twelve series. While there has been an amazing 32 draws (65 per cent), Pakistan holds a slight advantage of the remaining encounters with ten Test wins to India's seven. It was thus unusual that there was a result in each Test in the series just finished. India won the first Test by an innings and 52 runs and lost the second Test by nine wickets.
The series loss is a setback for Pakistan. Since 2000, Pakistan has maintained a consistent rating, moving within a bandwidth of 30 ratings points. The lowest Pakistani rating was 1057 points in March 2001. Pakistan raised that to their highest rating of 1087 points before facing India.
The loss in the series against India sees Pakistan's rating dropping back to 1077 points. As a result, Pakistan now drops back below England into fourth position in the ratings. Pakistan is now eight points behind England and 21 points ahead of sixth placed India.
India's rating has risen to 1056 points, which is India's highest rating since February 1996. The new rating is India's eleventh highest rating in history. India is now only 18 ratings points short of their best ever rating (1074 points) set in February 1980. India remains in sixth place in the ratings, but has increased their lead over seventh place New Zealand to 19 points.
India appears to be on the verge of a historic turning point in terms of their touring form. Winning Test series while on tour has been a rarity for India for most of the last thirty years. Despite an almost fortress like record on their own pitches, India has traditionally struggled elsewhere.
The last time India consistently won away from home was between 1968 and 1971. In that period, India defeated New Zealand, West Indies and England in consecutive tours. Since that time, India defeated England in 1986, Sri Lanka in 1983 and Zimbabwe in 2002. That extremely poor record occurred during 35 away Test series.
India's batsmen have often struggled on foreign soil with bounce that they do not face at home. However, their form in Australia and Pakistan has shown that Indian now possesses an experienced batting platform that no longer solely relies on Tendulkar.
The top six Indian batsmen have established themselves as one of the top three batting sides, along with Australia and South Africa. The exact order is open to debate. While the Indian bowlers are not as strong as their batsmen, the sizable totals they continue to amass places increased pressure on their opponents, thus easing the task of the bowlers. The batting firepower has effectively lifted the entire team.
Twice in the series against Pakistan, India passed 600 runs in their first innings. In the previous tour of Australia, India twice passed 500 runs and showed they were the equal of Australia's batsmen over the duration of series. India has lacked that sort of consistency for a long time.
India's form over the last year suggests that they are likely to move closer to challenging Pakistan for fourth place in the ratings over the next year. The biggest test over that period will come in a few months when Australia return for three Tests.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1. Australia (1236); 2. South Africa (1148); 3. England (1084); 4. Pakistan (1077); 5. India (1056); 6. New Zealand (1041); 7. Sri Lanka (1022); 8. West Indies (987); 9. Zimbabwe (891); 10. Bangladesh (793).
