India's number #1 ranking shouldn't be criticised

Media across the UK and Australia has been shouting hoarse, saying that India's elevation to the number one rankin test cricket is misplaced since India won a lot of matches playing on home pitches that were heavily titlted towardsthe home side's advantage. Well, they should try and calculate how many one-sided, boring encounters have taken placebetween Australia and the West Indies over the past ten years. How many times has Australia cleaned-up the WI sideswithin three days to amass a whole lot of points in the test ranking system when former Aussie players themselvessay that the WI team is not worthy of being a test match outfit!!
Further, aren't England and SA too driving the advantageby using seamer-inclined pitches against sub-continental teams knowing that conditions back in the Asian continent are the exact opposite? Isn't the Australian test team's ranking bloated by series victory over Zimbabwe and Bangladeshisides? Isn't is plainly visible that Australia built their numero uno ranking by blanking-out unmatched, underprepared sidesfrom England and the WI series after series in the Ashes and the Frank Worell Trophy? Every cricketing nation wantsto exploit its home conditions and India has done no different...so stop whining about it. If Australians were so sensitive to the quality of the competition and the fairness in terms of matching the sides evenly, they could have played a few test series without including Warne or McGrath - that didn't happen and in fact, both of them were streteched to hang-on towards their last years just to ensure that Australia could win back the Ashes after having ceded it to the Poms after years of one-sided, hopeless encounters.

Hashim Amla, another quiet achiever in the Dravid mold

Hashim Amla has been an opening for SA in test and ODIs for quite some time now. However, it was only recently that I noticed his averages that were flashed on the TV screen and I was surprised to find out that he averages nearly 48 in his ODI career and his strike-rate too is pretty impressive. In the absence of a regular opener, with Gibbs not being able to sustain his form or fitness, Amla has been a great find for SA, particularly for the captain, Graeme Smith. I guess, most folks don't realize how integral he has become to the SA batting line-up, simply because his presence is without any kind of gimmick, leaving only his performance to speak on his behalf, and I guess, these days, being in this Dravid-like, saintly mold does deprive a deserving cricketer of some due attention. In my opinion, he does fill-in the solidity provided by Kallis whenever Kallis is not around due to his back that is now beginning to bother him on a sustained basis.