Cricket
India Retain ICC Test Championship Mace
Team India retained the ICC Test Championship Mace for the third consecutive years after topping the ICC Test Rankings on the cut-off date of 1 April. After the historic series win against Australia, India made sure that Test Championship Mace isn't going anywhere soon.## Virat Kohli led Team India will be awarded 1 million dollars for retaining number one spot with 116 points while New Zealand and South Africa will be given 5 Lakh dollars and 2 Lakh dollars for securing number two and three positions with 108 and 105 points respectively.## "œRetaining the ICC Test Championship Mace once again is something we are all really proud of. Our team has been doing well across formats but it gives us extra pleasure to come out on top of the Test rankings. We all know of the importance of Test cricket and of how only the best can prosper in the format," Virat Kohli said.## "œOur team has a lot of depth and I am sure this will stand us in good stead once the ICC World Test Championship commences later this year. That is again something we are really looking forward to as it adds more context to Test match cricket," he added.## On the other hand, New Zealand skipper was all pumped up as his side reaches to number two for the first time in their history of test cricket. New Zealand has shown great consistency since the last year and beat England at home before a historic series win against Pakistan in UAE. Their most recent series win came against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at home.## "œIt"™s an awesome achievement for our side to finish second in the ICC Test Team Rankings and as a team, we should be very proud. It"™s come off the back of a lot of hard work and perseverance; not just by the eleven guys on the field, but the entire squad and support staff.## "œIt"™s been especially pleasing to see the consistency we"™ve shown in the longest form of the game over a decent period of time. We"™re now all really looking forward to the ICC World Test Championship getting underway and the added context the competition will bring," Williamson said.## Follow for more...