Team India dropped to third in ICC ODI rankings, with Australia retaining their place at the top (BCCI Twitter)
Rohit Sharma-led Team India dropped to third in the latest ICC ODI rankings, behind Babar Azam’s Pakistan while Australia continue to sit pretty at the top
Team India have slipped to third place in the latest released ICC Men’s ODI team rankings on Thursday, while Australia continue to remain at the top. Pakistan are in second place in the latest set of rankings after their series ODI series win over New Zealand.
With the ODI World Cup 2023 set to take place later this year, it will be interesting to see how the positions interchange in the build-up to the World Cup.
Earlier, Babar Azam-led Pakistan had briefly gone to the top of the ICC ODI rankings but they slipped to second after failing to inflict a clean sweep over New Zealand as the Black Caps won the fifth ODI to end the series 4-1.
Five-time world champions Australia improved their rating from 113 to 118 following the annual update, maintaining a slender lead over Pakistan (116 points) and India (115 points).
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According to the ICC release, “Prior to the annual rankings update, Australia were at the top with 113 points with India behind them on decimal count.
“Pakistan were ranked third, with 112 points and briefly went to the top of the charts after their victory in the fourth ODI against New Zealand this month.”
Pakistan could have stayed at the top position had they managed to complete a 5-0 clean sweep against New Zealand.
With only three rating points now separating the top three teams, an interesting battle at the top of the rankings is imminent in the year of the World Cup.
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The ICC’s annual rankings considered all ODI series completed since May 2020 “with series completed before May 2022 weighted at 50 percent and all subsequent series weighted at 100 percent”.
“This means that Pakistan have now pipped India in the second spot, with their 4-0 away series defeat in England no longer being counted. Their 3-0 series loss in England in 2021 also has a reduced weightage, helping them leapfrog India in the charts,” the ICC said.
India have been heavily impacted by their 2-1 series loss at home against Australia this year.
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Among other teams, New Zealand are placed fourth with 104 points followed by England, who have witnessed a massive 10-point drop in their rating’ are at fifth with 101 points.
While Afghanistan made a big jump to move to the eighth spot and get ahead of Sri Lanka (ninth) and the West Indies (tenth), South Africa were ranked sixth and Bangladesh seventh.
With PTI Inputs