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India fifth in Wisden rankings

On the back of its 2-1 series win against South Africa earlier this week, England have moved up one place in the Wisden world championship rankings.

The defeat at Headingley, which saw South Africa losing the series, has caused a drop of that country's standings to third, behind Australia and West Indies.

As per Wisden's formula, a series win is worth two points, a draw gets one.

The latest rankings, tabulated under country, played, points, and points difference, reads:

1. Australia       14    23    +9 
2. West Indies     13    17    +4 
3. South Africa    14    17    +3 
4. Pakistan        13    15    +2 
5. India           14    15    +1 
6. England         14    12    -2 
7. Sri Lanka       16    13    -3 
8. Zimbabwe        10     4    -6 
9. New Zealand     16     8    -8 

Interestingly, India's fifth place in the Wisden rankings mirrors the unofficial ratings former Australian skipper Ian Chappell came up with recently.

While rating Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman in the world and saying that India had a potent back-up batting lineup in Mohammad Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly, Chappell said that India, "the big improvers" in recent times, was still to prove its mettle abroad.

"India have been the big improvers in recent times thanks to a strong batting lineup headed by Sachin Tendulkar, the world's best batsman," Chappell writes in Inside Edge. "The consistent Rahul Dravid, the flashy Mohammad Azharuddin and a more forceful Saurav Ganguly complete an excellent middle order, but they are still unsettled at the top."

Giving reasons for ranking India fifth, Chappell writes: "India still don't travel well, and until they learn to win consistently abroad, they can't rank as a top class team."

Chappell however said that India's pace attack is in good shape with the experience of Srinath and Prasad bolstered by the young, aggressive Ajit Agarkar.

Chappell, who took five factors -- batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy and results -- into his analysis, rated Australia at the top followed by South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, India, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

Obviously, it is in the top half of the ranking that Chappell differs from Wisden -- perhaps because while the cricket magazine looks at results, Chappell's analysis is more theoretical.

How would you rank the nine nations, in Tests and ODIs? Give us your reasons, in detail, on the Discussion Group.