Indians become the number 1 team in the world

So with the first test between South Africa and England not starting until the 16th December and the last One Day International being rained off, giving England a 2-1 Series win, all eyes turned to the games between India and Sri Lanka and Australia vs West Indies.

If India won then they would become the top rated team in the world at Test Cricket and thanks to an innings of absolute brilliance from Sehwag where he scored an amazing 293 from just 254 balls (including 40 boundaries and 7 maximums). Combine that with a score of 100 not out from captain MS Dhoni and India posted a formidable first innings score of 726 for 9 declared in response to Sri Lankas first innings of 393.

So with Sri Lanka having to get 334 to make India bat again the odds were heavily stacked in the home teams favour and despite a battling 137 from Kumar Sangakarra they fell all out for 309 and lost by an innings and 24 runs. This means that India should end 2009 sitting on top of the rest as the number one team in the world, although that could all change after South Africa and England have played with a good win for South Africa will surely propel them back to the top of the rankings.

Elsewhere in Australia the West Indies were trying to prove that they were still a team to be reckoned with after losing the first test. It seemed to be going their way after a brilliant 104 from Dwayne Bravo and 92 from Brendan Nash meant they posted a competitive 451 but after an opening stand of 174 Australia fought back and ended their first innings just 12 runs behind on 439 all out, so it was over to the second innings to see if one team could strike a telling blow into the other.

Enter Chris Gayle who batted all the way through day 4 and by scoring a magnificent 165 not out set the Australians a target of 330 to win on the last day. They never looked likely to chase that down as they slipped to 139-5 but Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin added an unbeaten 73 to see the Australians safely to a draw. It was good to see that the West Indies weren't blown away as they were in the first test and hopefully they may be able to put forward a good team in the near future that can challenge the top teams out there.