India have retained the ICC Test Championship mace and have also won an award of $1million after their victory in the Johannesburg Test ensured that South Africa cannot move ahead of them in the ICC Test Team Rankings at the 3 April cut-off date, even if they go on to win all four Tests against Australia in March.
India had arrived in South Africa on 124 points, with South Africa 13 points behind on 111 points. However, Virat Kohli’s men will return on 121 points as opposed to South Africa’s 115 points, which will be good enough for them to keep possession of the prestigious ICC Test Championship mace for the second year in succession at the April cut-off.
Virat will be presented with the mace, which is a symbol of excellence and a recognition of a side’s outstanding performance in the purest format of the game, and a cheque of $1million in a presentation ceremony, the details of which will be announced in due course.
Virat had become the 10th captain since 2002 to get his hands on the mace when he had received it from Sunil Gavaskar following the Indore Test against New Zealand in 2016.
Had South Africa pulled off a 3-0 series win against India, then a win by 2-0 or better against Australia would have helped them reclaim the mace they had last won in 2015.
Below is the list of teams finishing at the number-one position at the 1 April cut-off:
2003 – Australia
2004 – Australia
2005 – Australia
2006 – Australia
2007 – Australia
2008 – Australia
2009 – Australia
2010 – India
2011 – India
2012 – England
2013 – South Africa
2014 – South Africa
2015 – South Africa
2016 – Australia
2017 – India
2018 - India
