India celebrate top ranking

DUBAI: Less than a day after becoming the world number one-ranked Test nation, India made a solid start in the fourth Test against West Indies, picking up two wickets before rain halted play for the day in Trinidad.

Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed one wicket apiece as West Indies reached to 62 for two in the 22 overs available at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

India assumed the top spot on the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings when Australia lost the third Test to be swept 3-0 in their series against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

However, India’s stay at the top could be short-lived, as they need to beat the West Indies in the fourth Test to claim the series 3-0 and prevent Pakistan from leapfrogging them.

India captain Virat Kohli acknowledged his team’s improvement since they lost a four-Test series 2-0 in Australia early last year, but was in no danger of getting carried away with the ranking.

He knows there will be bigger fish to fry than the struggling Windies, with eight home Tests looming against New Zealand and England before year’s end.

“Ever since Australia we’ve really tightened up the screws and brought the team back to the top in Test cricket but (it could be) a pretty short-lived one,” Kohli said after his opposite number, Jason Holder, won the toss and opted to bat.

“We know the (ranking) table’s pretty close. We haven’t played the number of games the other teams have played, so I think we’ll be in a better position to judge ourselves as a team at the end of this long season.”