Ultimate goal is to beat India in India: Langer

MELBOURNE: Having attained the numero-uno spot in the ICC Test Rankings after quite a long time, Australia head coach Justin Langer has said that their ultimate goal is to beat India in India.

On Friday, Australia took over from India as the top ranked Test side with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place. India are now third with 114 points. It’s just the second time since the rankings were introduced in 2003 that the top three teams have been separated by such a small margin.

“We recognise how fluid these rankings are, but at this time it was certainly nice to put a smile on our faces,” Langer was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

“We’ve got lots of work to do to get to be the team that we want to be, but hopefully over the last couple of years not only have we performed well on the field, but also off the field.

“Certainly a goal for us has been the World Test Championship … but ultimately, we have to beat India in India and we’ve got to beat them when they come back (to Australia),” he added.

India have yielded the top spot for the first time since October 2016. This is largely because India had won 12 Tests and lost just one Test in 2016-17, the records of which were removed in the latest update.

India are scheduled to tour Australia this summer for a four-Test series where the hosts would be seeking revenge after suffering a 1-2 defeat to Virat Kohli’s side two years ago.

“You can only judge yourself as being the best if you beat the best and we’ve got some really tough opposition to come,” said Langer.

According to the head coach, the team needs to get better as now others will come gunning for them.  India still lead the ICC World Test Championship, a league comprising six series played by each of the top nine Test sides. IANS