Less than a year ago, MS Dhoni and Andrew Strauss were anticipating a high octane Test series battle that pitted the World No 1 Test nation (India) against the World No 2 (England).

While the Englishmen have retained their top rating, India have slipped to fifth position. Sure, the absurdity in the ranking shows when one notices that England are still on top despite losing 0-3 to Pakistan and drawing the series 1-1 in Sri Lanka while India lost two series (0-4 in England and 0-4 in Australia) to find themselves even behind Pakistan.