3-0 sweep not good enough for No 1 for Proteas

Cape Town - South Africa will have a chance to join India at the top of the ICC Test Team rankings when the two sides go face-to-face in their three-Test series starting at Newlands in Cape Town, on Friday, January 5.

Faf du Plessis' side are presently 13 points behind Virat Kohli’s team, who sit on top of the table on 124 points.

However, both the sides will finish on 118 points if South Africa sweep of the series.

Nevertheless, even in that scenario, India will be ranked above South Africa when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point.

In such a situation, India will be on 118.47 points, while South Africa will be on 117.53.

On the flipside, if India win all three Tests in the series, then they will move to 128 points while South Africa will slip to 107 points.

The following are the series permutations:

· South Africa 3 India 0 - South Africa will join India on 118 points but India will be ranked first by a fraction of a point

· South Africa 2 India 1 or South Africa 1 India 0 – South Africa 115 India 121

· South Africa 2 India 0 – South Africa 116 India 120

· India 3 South Africa 0 – India 128 South Africa 107

· India 2 South Africa 1 or India 1 South Africa 0 – India 125 South Africa 110

· India 2 South Africa 0 – India 126 South Africa 109

· Drawn series – India 123 South Africa 112

South Africa v India Test series schedule:

January 5-9 – 1st Test, Newlands

January 13-17 – 2nd Test, Centurion

January 24-28 – 3rd Test, Wanderers

ICC Test Team Rankings (before the start of South Africa v India series):

Under rank, team, points

1. India 124

2. South Africa 111

3. England 105

4. New Zealand 100

5. Australia 97

6. Sri Lanka 94

7. Pakistan 88

8. West Indies 72

9. Bangladesh 72

10. Zimbabwe 1