If India defeats arch-rivals Pakistan 2-0 in the upcoming three-Test series it can go past England and take the second spot in the revamped LG ICC Test Championship table.
India are currently third in the rankings with 108 points, two behind England and 24 behind leaders Australia.
A 2-0 triumph or series whitewash over Pakistan will enable India overtake England on the table while a 1-0 win would bring them on par with England, the ICC said in Mumbai on Friday.
ICC General Manager (cricket) and former South Africa 'keeper Dave Richardson said the Test ratings would be updated after every series while the one-day ratings would be altered after every match.
Richardson, who conducted a workshop for the media to explain how the new system of Test, ODI and Players ratings work, said the world governing council is also working on a system to enable comparison between players of different eras, say India's greats Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.
"The ICC's official web site will show historical ratings, making player comparisons (of different eras) possible," Richardson said.
"While there is a bonus point for a Test series victory, none exists for securing victory in a One-Day International rubber," he said, adding, no extra points are given to teams for winning an ODI in a World Cup or Champions Trophy while players' performance in these mega events are given extra weightage.
"But if we feel at a later stage that extra weightage should be given to teams' performance in World Cups and Champions Trophy, it can be done quite easily under the present system," Richardson said.
The former SA stumper also said that the players' rankings, on a scale of 0-1000 points, would give an exact idea of how good they were currently.
"A 900-plus score would indicate a `Bradmanesque' rating, a 700-plus would indicate a world class batsman and anything under 400 would indicate it's time for the player to open a pub", he said, in a lighter vein.
There are four main differences between the newly-introduced system - running from August to July - and the older one, Richardson said.
1. The new system reflects performances in all Tests, including `dead' rubbers and one-off Tests which do not qualify for a series bonus.
2. It reflects performances in all Test series completed since a given date, in contrast to the previous system which included some series played six or seven years earlier and yet excluded some more recent series.
3. In any series, both teams always have the opportunity to improve or worsen their rating while in the previous system the side winning the previous corresponding series could not improve its rating, while their opponents' rating could not fall.
4. It recognises the different strength of opponents faced by different teams so that a side that has played recent series against the lower rated countries would not have any inherent rating advantage over a side that has not yet played them.
