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Why Australia jumped to top, and India dropped to 3rd in ICC ODI Rankings despite no action since March?
The ICC released the latest ODI rankings on Thursday, that saw Australia jumping to the top spot.
Australia retained their no.1 spot in the ICC Men's ODI Rankings on Wednesday, following the latest update made by the cricketing body. Pakistan and India follow the Aussies at second and third position respectively. Australia improved their rating from 113 to 118 points after the annual update, but only have a slender lead over Pakistan (116) and India (115).
According to the International Cricket Council (ICC) release, "Prior to the annual rankings update, Australia were at the top with 113 points with India behind them on the 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."
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Pakistan had jumped to the top spot in the rankings after their win over New Zealand in the fourth ODI, and could've retained the spot had they completed a 5-0 clean-sweep over the Kiwis. However, the side faced a 47-run loss in the final match.
An interesting battle at the top of the rankings is imminent in the year of the World Cup as only three points separate Australia, Pakistan and India, who are comfortably ahead of the others in the 20-team table.
The matches dropping out of the rankings include the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019. England and New Zealand, who played an epic final at Lord's four years ago, have both lost points in the annual update. The annual rankings consider all series completed since May 2020, with series completed before May 2022 weighted at 50 percent and all subsequent series weighted at 100 percent.
New Zealand are in fourth position but 11 points behind India at 104 after losing four points over the cycle. England, who will defend their World Cup title in India this year, have lost 10 points and are in fifth position with 101 points.
South Africa and Bangladesh retain sixth and seventh positions, respectively, while Afghanistan have overtaken former World champions Sri Lanka and the West Indies to grab eighth position. The top eight are the teams to have qualified directly for this year's World Cup.
