In a surprise twist, ICC revealed their latest team rankings and in the Test format, India was no more the no.1 ranked team, a position that has held since 2016.

According to the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings updated on Friday, Tim Paine’s Australia became the new no.1 ranked Test team. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli’s India has now slipped to 3rd spot on the ICC Test rankings, with New Zealand leaping to the second spot.

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"India has yielded the top spot for the first time since October 2016. This is large because India had won 12 Tests and lost just one Test in 2016-17, the records of which were removed in the latest update," an ICC statement said.

"They had won all five series during this period including against Australia and England. On the other hand, Australia had lost to South Africa as well as to India in the same period,” the statement further said.

India last played Tests against New Zealand and was thrashed 2-0 in the two-match series. It was India's first major overseas assignment of 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the sporting world to a grinding halt.

However, the Indian team still leads the ICC World Test Championship.

With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003. The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Meanwhile, South Africa plummeted to the sixth spot behind Sri Lanka with a rating drop of eight points, their biggest.

Here is the latest ICC Test team rankings:

1 Australia           116 (+8)

2 New Zealand   115 (+5)

3 India                  114 (-2)

4 England            105 (-)

5 Sri Lanka          91 (-)

6 South Africa    90 (-8)

7 Pakistan           86 (+1)

8 West Indies     79 (-2)

9 Bangladesh     55 (-5)

10 Zimbabwe      18 (+1)

(icc-cricket.com inputs)