Who was the number one Test cricket team before India?

The chokers of international cricket, South Africa, held the number one position in ICC rankings for Test cricket before India took over the position.

India beat Sri Lanka in the Jaypee Cup series to become number one followed by South Africa at 2, Australia at 3 and Sri Lanka at 4.

India started its campaign as the number one Test team after defeating Sri Lanka in December 2009 and since then India has retained its spot.

India won 2nd Test at Kanpur and 3rd Test at Mumbai by a margin of an innings.

After winning over Sri Lanka in 2009, India repeatedly retained victories over South Africa, Bangladesh, Australia and West Indies in 2010 and 2011.

Since when ICC introduced the system of Test rankings, only three countries have held the number one ranking for Test cricket.

As of 29 December 2010, South African has played 357 Test matches, winning 125 matches (35.11%), losing 124 (34.55%) and drawing 108(30.33%) of its games.

Australia is currently ranked fifth in the ICC Test Championship behind India, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka, and led the Test rankings for a record time of 74 months.

The ICC provides ratings at the end of each month. From December 2009, India was ranked first in the ICC Test Championship.

Since the time International Cricket Council officially began ranking teams in 2003, Australia dominated the rankings just like it had done in Test cricket since around 1995.