Pakistan becomes No 1 ranked test side in the world

[Trisonics]

India does not deserve to be number 1. We still don't have a champion team that can consistently win overseas. I think both Pakistan and Sri Lanka did very well this season. Congrats Pakistan!

 

[sady]

Stupidity of human race is
People from two countries fight over
A game played only by 7 or 8 countries
A game not represented in Olympics
Most interesting is one has only 2 medal and other dont even participated in Olympics

Hahahaha....angoor khtay hain.

 

[xiao qi]

Congrats Pakistan

 

[911]

Congrats.

 

[Asian.Century]

Pakistan make history by becoming No. 1 Test team in the world

KARACHI: Pakistan's Test team made history Monday as it clinched the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings after the rain-hit fourth and last Test between the West Indies and India ended as a draw.

Misbah-ul-Haq was delighted to become the first Pakistan captain to inspire his side to the top of the Test rankings.

ICC-cricket.com reported the 42-year-old saying, “There is no greater feeling than to achieve the number-one ranking in the most traditional and purest format of the sport. This is what cricketers play for and want to achieve in their careers.

“Number-one ranking is a reward for something we had planned as a group a few years ago and have worked extremely hard to achieve it. To top the Test table, which boasts some of the best sides and players, is something to be very proud of.

“I want to compliment everyone who has been involved in the process, including all the players, the support personnel, the management, as well as our loyal fans and followers who remained committed to us and continued to back and support the side through the good and not-so-good days.

“For us, the number-one ranking is not a destination but part of a journey. Our long-term objective and strategy is to remain competitive, continue to challenge the top sides with good cricket and once again become the most followed side like the Pakistan teams of yesteryears. If we can achieve these on a consistent basis, then I am sure there will more laurels like this down the line.”

Pakistan's chances picked up after a splendid 10-wicket win over England which levelled the recently concluded four-Test series.

Pakistan featured as top Test side for two months from August till September in 1988.

ICC Test Rankings
This is the second time that Pakistan has climbed to the number one position, the last time being 28-year-ago.

Pakistan climbed to the top spot after the West Indies and India reached a draw in the four-match Test series.

The Virat Kohli-led India side needed to win the series with a margin of at least 0-3 to retain their status as top Test side after Australia, captained by Steven Smith, was whitewashed by Sri Lanka 3-0 earlier this month.

The rankings system
The current Test ranking – known as the ICC Test Championship – encapsulates top 10 Test nations.

In the 157 months since the current system's introduction Australia, (number one in three stretches totalling 81 months or over 51 percent of the time), South Africa (thrice, totalling 42 months) and India (twice, totalling 21 months) have primarily outshone.

Pakistan, however, featured as a top team for only two months nearly three decades ago.

In the 1952-2003 period, Pakistan was retrospectively rated the top side during August-September 1988.

The ICC recently applied its current rating system to results going back to 1952, prior to which the data available is deemed insufficient for calculation purposes due to the infrequency of matches and the small number of competing teams.

comments: http://www.dawn.com/news/1279015/pakistan-make-history-by-becoming-no-1-test-team-in-the-world

 

[Asian.Century]

Thats painful for India, no. 2 by 1 point...lol

 

[Nilgiri]

Congrats to Pakistan and its cricket fans from a somewhat lapsed India cricket fan (hehe)

One day I hope to see IND/BAN/PAK as top 3 in all 3 formats of the game @BDforever and we can have long fruitless discussions of which is actually overall the top 1 hehe.

@waz are you a Pak cricket fan or you support the pommie team?

 

[Indika]

One day I hope to see IND/BAN/PAK as top 3 in all 3 formats of the game @BDforever and we can have long fruitless discussions of which is actually overall the top 1 hehe

It will certainly happen there will be only 3 moron countries in the world who will keep playing this stupid time wasting game.

 

[Mr.Zmaster]

If I'm correct this is the first time since 1988 that Pakistan is number 1. As a huge cricket fan and as a Pakistani I couldn't be happier! However, we need to bring our test form into limited overs. But I'm not going to spoil the moment. Congratulations!!!!

 

[bloo]

If only the last few days in the Caribbean would have had better conditions we would possibly be enjoying the top spot by now.

Congratulations to Pakistan.

 

[Asian.Century]

Message from Pakistan Team on becoming number 1 Test team:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1268846736521989

 

[sherin616]

Hahahaha....angoor khtay hain.

What is this language can you post it in English

 

[Trichy]

Congrats pakistan Test team.... ODI team needs new energy and passion to go.



Indians dont worry this time we have 8 home test in this season.

and proud to be the only Team in Top 3 @ all Formats... also only Asian Team to be is Top 5 @ all formats. Best Asian team as of now in all rounds.

http://www.icc-cricket.com/team-rankings/test

 

[Arefin007]

Congrats Pakistan

 

[Adecypher]

No team has ever overcome more to become No. 1 than Pakistan

Things that happen to Pakistan cricket aren't supposed to happen. Sometimes that's terrible. Sometimes that's wonderful.

JARROD KIMBER UPDATED about 6 hours ago

On March 4, 2009, the morning should have started with Younis Khan starting an innings. A week earlier, he had showed the best of Pakistan with a triple century.

But Younis Khan never even made the crease. This was not supposed to happen.

Although the Sri Lankan team and ICC officials were the victims at the time, the Pakistan team has been the victims ever since.

This great and proud cricket nation became cricket's first homeless team.

In the first neutral Test in England, their captain quit mid-innings at Lord's. His replacement would commit a crime on the same tour, taking with him two of cricket's best bowlers.

The traitors and the terrorists were trying to defeat them.

Read: Misbah’s choke lock

Their board was changing hands and outlooks quicker than an Afridi innings. Their senators stood up and called them cheats. Players were banned and unbanned for reasons best known to the idiots who made them.

They had no professional structure.

Their coaches have come and gone, because of poor performance, perceived poor performance, but mostly because it is easier to fire a coach than rebuilding your entire cricket structure.

The traitors had tried to pull them down from the inside, and the terrorists from the outside. They had no proper parenting from their board, and in an era where home teams prospered the most, they had no home.

They should have faded away.

A man they once overlooked wouldn't let them. It says a lot about a country like Pakistan that through all that it can produce someone like Misbah, but it also says a lot that they overlooked him. He wasn't a dictator, he wasn't flashy, he wasn't the next young prodigy. As he rebuilt the most broken cricket team in history, he was compared to atuk-tuk by his nation's fans.

Pakistan, the unquiet ones, the inconsistent ones, the untrusted ones, played cricket, overcome the worst that was thrown at them and they got to the top of cricket.
He could have spent a couple of years making runs, and then gone into the commentary booth and started having a pop at the players he once led.

Instead he batted on. Misbah is in his 40s. And we still don't know how long he will go on. If he is waiting for a rightful successor, he might have to play on until his 50s. In Misbah they trust.

It won't be physically possible. What he has done for his country also wasn't possible.

Read: Azharuddin reveals context of Younis phone call

My story of Pakistan starts in the suburbs of Melbourne.

I was supposed to like only one team. But in 89/90, I went to see Pakistan play at the MCG. It was my first Test. We sat side on. Wasim Akram bowled.

I didn't even see the ball. I don't know how you can fall in love with something too quick to see, but I did.

Mohammad Amir. — Reuters

The next week, Pakistan played in Sydney and I watched on TV.

There was a bloke there who bounced into the wicket like a cartoon pixie. His arms twirled, and the ball went both ways. I had just started leg spin, so I kind of knew what it was, but I had no idea what Mushtaq Ahmed was doing. It wasn't just leg spin, it was something magical, illegal, and I wanted to do it.

From that day on, I tried to bowl like Mushie.

Years later, I would go to suburban parties, and my dad would tell some random bloke that I played cricket, and he'd ask, "whaddya bowl?" Leg spin, I would say. "Like Warnie, ha". No, like Mushtaq Ahmed, I would say. There would always be the same confused look on the bloke's face.

I was too young to explain love to him.

I also loved Australian cricket; I was as well schooled in it as anyone.

But I loved Pakistan cricket. They are the reason I follow international cricket. When I bowled leg spin, I tried to be Mushie. When I tried to bowl quick, I copied Wasim's action.

Read: Younis Khan stands among the world's batting elite

I didn't know any Pakistani kids, I played with a United Nations cricket team in my suburbs, but somehow, we never had a Pakistani.

But it didn't matter. I had Imran the hero, Inzi the legend, Wasim the blur and my Mushie. That was my Pakistan.

When I started my cricket blog, I put up four photos on my site.

Neil Harvey's Feet. Keith Miller's slog. Wes Hall's leap. And Imran Khan with his hands above his head wearing the best cricket shirt ever made. That was cricket to me.

But loving them since I was nine isn't the reason I am so happy they are number one. This is about history.

Our game has done everything within its power to not grow. And even as it grew, it stayed very much in the hands of England and Australia. The West Indies couldn't get a seat at the high table despite being the best side there ever was. It was only when India used their billion dollar influence that they did.

Pakistan has been fighting this since they became a nation.

Even though they already had Test cricketers, they had to wait years to get a Test side. Then it took them generations to become a top side. They had one great era, and one great moment: a shambolic World Cup victory that only happened because of rain.

A man they once overlooked wouldn't let them. It says a lot about a country like Pakistan that through all that it can produce someone like Misbah, but it also says a lot that they overlooked him. He wasn't a dictator, he wasn't flashy, he wasn't the next young prodigy. As he rebuilt the most broken cricket team in history, he was compared to a tuk-tuk by his nation's fans.

But at the same time, they were accused of cheating with reverse swing.

Then when they were a top side, when they had earned it, fought for it, spent forty years fighting for it, it was their players who gave it away. Their own judge disgusted with what this cricket team had become.

In the entire history of Test cricket, there have really been only five teams at number one. Unofficially people will say that Pakistan was number one for a month or two in the 80s.

But unofficially or not, no one believes they were number one ahead of the West Indies in that period.

And now there are six. This is real. As real as the rain in Trinidad; as real as Younis Khan's double century at the Oval.

Read: Test mace beckons with Pakistan primed for top ranking

It has been 2,728 days since the attacks of Lahore. In that time they have played 1,000 years of cricket. The heartbeat of Pakistan cricket has pounded a million times. The rage of Pakistan fans has flashed a billion times. Their country, their leader betrayed them. And yet they are better than they have ever been.

They are the best in the world.

Most teams who are the best are the best both home and away, Pakistan only has away.

No team has ever overcome more to become number one than Pakistan.

The West Indies had a home fortress. Australia and England were the most professional of their eras. India are a billion dollar team. And even South Africa's troubles aren't anything compared to Pakistan's. They aren't the best team to be number one; they are the most amazing.

The history of cricket, their board, their nation, and at times their own team has done everything in its power to stop this from happening. And it happened. It is as wonderful as Ijaz Ahmed's grip. As Pakistani fast bowling hair. As Misbah's beard. As Fazal Mahmood's aura. As Hanif Mohammad's concentration. As Imran Khan.

Pakistan, the unquiet ones, the inconsistent ones, the untrusted ones, played cricket, overcome the worst that was thrown at them and they got to the top of cricket.

They had to beg to be a Test side. They had to prove they weren't cheats. They were let down by a generation of heroes. They had to overcome not playing at home. They had to make up for losing their best two bowlers.

Read: My homework on England batsmen paid off in Tests, says Sohail Khan

They had to come together, not for one magic tournament, but for years of hard work always away from home — losing bowlers to dodgy actions, having seven-foot giants breaking down, and with the whole world pitying or ignoring them.

And somehow after all that, they conquered cricket's toughest desert.

This was not supposed to happen.

Younis Khan is still not supposed to be playing.

Misbah was never supposed to lead.

Mohammad Amir was not supposed to come back.

They were not supposed to draw in England.

This team were not supposed to be number one.

The things that happen to Pakistan cricket are not supposed to happen. Sometimes that is terrible. Sometimes that is wonderful.

Today is wonderful. This team is a thing of wonder.

Elegant chaos, endless joy, I give you Pakistan, the world's number one Test cricket team.