India enjoys best FIFA ranking in more than 20 years

But how much has the national team actually improved? Let's find out

Over the past few weeks, Danny Batth, captain of English Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers, has expressed a profound desire to play for India. In Batth’s case, whose father is Indian, the alacrity to swap his British passport for a blue jersey is easy to fathom. His chances of playing for the England senior team are dreadfully bleak, illusory at best. And, if he ever needed any more incentive to represent the Indian national team, then here’s one: only 83 places now separate his adopted homeland and the country of his father’s birth in the world rankings. A little over two