Former West Indies head coach Otis Gibson has challenged his current team South Africa to climb back to the top of the test rankings with a series wins over India and Australia in the coming months.

Second-placed south Africa need a clean sweep in the three-match test series against India and at least a two-test winning margin from the four games against Australia in march to return to number one.

South Africa’s first challenge comes in Cape Town on Friday against India.  The Indians come into the tour on the back of nine successive test series triumphs, a run that stretches all the way back to august 2015 in Sri Lanka. However, they have never won in South Africa on their previous six visits – losing five and drawing one.

India is currently ranked number one, and Gibson while having a world class line up in his test squad, admits that it will be a tough series against the Indians who themselves are not short on talent.