'Quality and experience' - Ravi Shastri reveals reason behind India’s rankings success

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes that India's ability to maintain a place at the top of the ICC Men's Team Rankings is because of the ideal balance of youth and experience in the squad. The Rohit Sharma-led side recently surpassed Australia to secure the top spot in the Test rankings and are now in first place with 121 rating points, followed by Australia in second with 116 rating points.

From June 7-12, India and Australia will square off in the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval in London. While India were defeated by New Zealand in the first edition in 2021, this will be Australia's first WTC final.

On the most recent episode of The ICC Review, Shastri was asked about the rankings ahead of the WTC final. The former Indian cricketer praised the stability India have found under Rohit’s leadership and head coach Rahul Dravid's guidance in the last few years.

"It's a tribute to their consistency, their fitness, and the way they've worked over the last five or six years to now be hungry and proud of wanting to belong there," Shastri told host Sanjana Ganesan.

Shastri said that India's ability to maintain its position is due to the quality of their players. The 61-year-old claimed that the Indian team's players are experienced and at an advanced age where they are battle-hardened. 

"It's the quality of players. If you look at these players, a lot of these players are at their prime when you look at the Indian Test side. They're experienced, they're at that age where they're battle-hardened, and they've traveled around the world. They know what Test cricket is all about, they know what one-day cricket is all about, they know what T20 cricket is all about," he added.

Shastri also stated that there is a lot of experience in Test match cricket, which will enable the team to get to the top two or three and stay there for three or four years.

"And the mix is with experienced players and youth. There's youth filtering in, especially in the white-ball formats of the game. But as a nucleus in Test match cricket, there's tons of experience. So that's what makes the difference. When you have that, you'll see sides that make it to the top two three as history will tell you, they remain there for three-four years," he added.