India overtake Australia to become No. 1 Test side
Dubai, May 2: India have overtaken Australia to regain the number one position in the ICC men's Test team rankings following the annual update that drops results from the 2019-20 season and reflects all series completed since May 2020.
India's rating points have moved up from 119 to 121 as their 2-0 defeat to New Zealand in March 2020 no longer figures in the rankings, which assesses series completed prior to May 2022 at 50 per cent and subsequent series at 100 per cent.
India were last at the top for a month in December 2021.
Australia have slipped from 122 to 116 rating points as their home series wins over Pakistan (2-0) and New Zealand (3-0) in 2019-20 no longer figure in the rankings, while their 4-0 win over England in 2021-22 has its weighting halved to 50 per cent.
Australia, who take on India in the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023 at The Oval from June 7, were the top-ranked Test side since January 2022. They grabbed the position with the 4-0 series win over England that helped them overtake New Zealand.
England remain in third position but the gap between them and the second placed side is reduced from 13 to two rating points owing to some consistent performances in recent months as well as reduced weightage of their 4-0 Ashes defeat and a 1-0 defeat in the West Indies.
The other rankings too remain unchanged though 10th-placed Zimbabwe have gained five rating points. Afghanistan and Ireland have yet to play enough Tests to earn a place in the rankings table.
In the men's T20I team rankings, India have consolidated their position at the top, increasing their lead over second-placed England from six to eight points. New Zealand have overtaken Pakistan and South Africa to third position.
The annual update to the ODI team rankings will be carried out on May 10 after the ongoing Pakistan-New Zealand series.
🚨 New World No.1 🚨
— ICC (@ICC) May 2, 2023
India dethrone Australia in the annual update of the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's Test Rankings ahead of the #WTC23 Final 👀
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Kerala Story 2: Report reveals more people converting to Hinduism in Kerala than other religions
Thiruvanthapuram: Amid the uproar over ‘The Kerala Story 2‘and allegations that the film wrongly portrays Kerala, an analysis by The News Minute has presented claims that contradict the narrative shown in the movie.
In a teaser released by the filmmakers, the film depicts several Hindu women being converted to Islam.
However, TNM’s analysis of Kerala Gazette records shows a different trend.
According to the report, Hinduism has attracted the highest number of converts in the state, followed by Islam and Christianity, offering a data-based view of religious conversion patterns in Kerala.
The plot of the upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story 2’ revolves around a two-decade-old conspiracy theory alleging a jihadist scheme to marry Hindu women and convert them to Islam. The film’s release has been stayed by the Kerala High Court on Thursday, the movie was supposed to release on Friday, February 27.
The first film, released in 2023, claimed that 32,000 women had been converted by jihadists in Kerala. That claim was later questioned by the Supreme Court of India, which pulled up the makers for using fake data.
Despite the premise of the sequel remaining the same, the producers have claimed that this time they spent seven months conducting “research.”
The TNM team stated in its report that for several months they researched religious conversions in Kerala and uncovered what they described as significant facts.
According to the report, Hinduism has been attracting the largest number of converts in the state, more than Christianity or Islam.
An earlier TNM report in the same series had pointed to the existence of a statewide network of Hindutva groups, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad, which focuses on converting Dalits to Hinduism.
The News Minute in its report mentioned that their team went through more than 10,000 pages of the Kerala Gazette and found that 365 Keralites converted to Hinduism between January and December 2024.
Of these, 262 were Dalit Christians and Muslims. The report stated that many among them were induced by the promise of securing Scheduled Caste status after conversion to Hinduism.
Who has converted to which religion ?
According to the published figures in the state gazette, according to The News Minute, conversions to Islam included 276 people who moved from Hinduism to Islam, comprising 154 women and 122 men. In addition, 67 people converted from Christianity to Islam, of whom 42 were women and 25 were men. Taken together, a total of 343 people converted to Islam during the period.
Meanwhile, conversions to Hinduism accounted for 329 people who moved from Christianity to Hinduism, including 180 women and 149 men. Another 36 people converted from Islam to Hinduism, with 24 women and 12 men. In total, 365 people converted to Hinduism.
In Christianity 234 people shifted from Hinduism to Christianity, comprising 130 women and 104 men. A further 21 people converted from Islam to Christianity, including 13 women and 8 men. Altogether, the total number of people who converted to Christianity stood at 255 .
