The Indian team put up a dominant show to win the third test in Ranchi against South Africa and got full 40 points from the game to consolidate their number one position in world test championship. Virat Kohli’s team declared on 497/9 after brilliant 212 from Rohit Sharma, 115 from Ajinkya Rahane and a quick 51 from Ravindra Jadeja.
The visiting team had no answers to the fiery Indian bowling attack and got bundled out on 162 runs in the first innings. Zubayr Hamza was the pick of Proteas batsman with score of 62 runs well supported by vice skipper Temba Bavuma(32) and George Linde(37). All the other batsman could not take their score past 10 runs. Umesh Yadav picked three wickets and debutant Shahbaz Nadeem took two wickets to start his International career on a high.
India enforced the follow on and the Proteas batsman had a tough task in their hand to save the test match. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami ran through the South African top and middle order which again exposed their technique of batting on the slow wickets. At the end of 3rd day’s play, Proteas were 132/8 with a trail of 203 runs still left.
The Indian bowlers had little time to waste as they wrapped up the two remaining Proteas batsman to hand over an innings and 102 runs victory.
With this win India are top of the table and the difference between them and the second team- New Zealand is 180 points. The Virat Kohli led team got 120 points out of the three games. Not to forget, ICC test championship was started by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with an aim to increase the popularity of Test cricket. The marquee tournament replaced Champions trophy.
Winning a match in a two-match series gives 60 points. Winning a match in a three-match series gives 40 points. A win in a four-match series fetches 30 points. At the same time, winning a match in a five-match series gives 24 points. Apart from this, a drawn match gives 8-8 points each.
Here is the updated points table
