India's Tuesday night has been capped off brilliantly with the ICC confirming them as the new no.1 ranked Test team in the world following England's 2-1 series win in South Africa.
India claimed victory in last nights opening T20 match in Adelaide and will now get to celebrate even more with the no.1 Test ranking being handed to them after a five year absence.
Even though South Africa won by 280 runs against England in the fourth Test in Centurion, they drop down to third following defeats in Johannesburg and Durban at the hands of Trevor Bayliss's England.
Many saw this coming, with the Proteas 3-0 defeat in India - the first time South Africa had been beaten away from home in nine years - contributing to the fall in rankings.
Sandwiched between one and three are Australia who can claim top spot with victory over New Zealand in next month's two-Test series starting in Wellington on February 12.
Steve Smith's side should have even more incentive to grab the number one spot, now that the ICC has increased the prize money won for being top dog.
From April 1st US$1 million dollars will be awarded to the top Test team, doubling the previous amount.
It's the final nail in the coffin for what has been a difficult few months for South Africa, with Test captain Hashim Amla resigning as skipper during the England series and on top of that, two series defeats to their near rivals.
However, the England series has seen an emergence of two young black-African talents, with Kagiso Rabada finishing as their leading wicket-taker, which included a 7-112 spell in the fourth Test, making it the eighth best return by any South African bowler since the country's readmission to world cricket in April 1992.
The other being, Temba Bavuma, who scored his maiden Test ton, with a brilliant batting display in Cape Town during the second Test.
With these two set to spearhead the future of South African cricket, expect the Proteas to return to their perch at some stage.
