India now No. 1 team in all formats of cricket

News Network

February 15, 2023

Dubai, Feb 15: India on Wednesday claimed the top spot in the latest ICC Test rankings to become the number one ranked side in all three formats of the game.

India’s big innings and 132-run win over Australia in the first Test catapulted the ‘Men in Blue’ to the top spot, dislodging the Pat Cummins-led team.

Already the top T20 side, India had reached the number one spot in ODIs last month after beating New Zealand 3-0.

India (115) are four rating points ahead of Australia (111) in the Test rankings and a win in the second Test, starting Friday, will not only consolidate their top spot but also aid their push for entering second consecutive World Test Championship Final.

India need to win the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 or 3-0 to make the final.

Among individuals, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin jumped to the second spot in the Men’s Test Bowlers Rankings following his eight-wicket show against Australia in Nagpur.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who made a successful comeback after almost five months due to a knee injury, has moved up to the 16th position, courtesy his player-of-the-match winning effort in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series-opener.

The spin duo haunted Australia in the first Test between by sharing 15 wickets between them as India won by an innings 132 runs inside three days.

Ashwin ensured India wrapped up a stunning victory before tea on the third day, as the veteran off-spinner took 5/37 in the second innings to go with 3/42 earlier in the match.

The 36-year-old is 21 rating points behind Australia captain Pat Cummins and is contention to return to the No.1 ranking for the first time since 2017.

While Ashwin stepped up in what turned out to be the last session of the Test, Jadeja did the damage on the first day with 5/47, including the prized wickets of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

Jadeja then took 2/34 in the second Australian innings. Australia were bowled out for just 91.

Among other Indian bowlers, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who too has been out of action since September last due to a lower back stress fracture, is placed fifth.

In the Test batting chart, India captain Rohit Sharma has been rewarded for his match-defining ton in Nagpur. He gained two spots to be at number eight.

Rohit came to the crease after Australia were all out for 177 in their first innings, then made the wicket look all-but tame with an assured 120 that set the tone for the rest of the match.

Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who will be out of action for an indefinite period following his horrific car accident, is the other Indian batter in top-10. He is placed seventh.

In contrast Australian openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja have paid the price for being dismissed cheaply twice.

Warner has fallen six places to 20th after his scores of 1 and 10, while Khawaja has dropped two spots to 10th after only making 1 and 5 in the first Test.

Australian duo of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith occupy the top two position with Pakistan captain Babar Azam in the third spot.

India all-rounder Axar Patel has leaped six places to seventh in Test all-rounder rankings after coming to the crease at a tense 240 for 7. He hit a patient 84 for his highest score in the format.

The second Test between India and Australia will be played in New Delhi from Friday.

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Israeli forces invade southwestern Syria, set up checkpoint in Quneitra

News Network

November 24,2025

Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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