World Cup 2019: Team India topple England to take the No.1 position in ODI rankings

Hosts of 2019 World Cup England had more disappointing news in store after their back-to-back losses to Sri Lanka and Australia in the mega tournament. As per the latest ICC rankings published on June 25, the day the Three Lions tasted a 64-run loss to holders Australia at Lord’s, Eoin Morgan’s side was no more the No.1 team in the world in the 50-overs format. From 124, their rating came down to 122 which meant India occupied the top slot with 123 ratings.

For the team which was seen as hot favourites to win the trophy, this was no less than a big disappointment before they took on India and New Zealand in their last two league games. England were sitting pretty with eight points from five games with just one loss but then failed to chase successfully against the Lankans and Kangaroos, to push themselves in a spot. England need to win both their end games to secure a place in the semi-finals.

It is interesting that they will be pitted against the No.1 team in the world in a bid for survival in the tournament. New Zealand, the finalists of the 2015 World Cup, maintained their position (third) in the rankings with 116 ratings (two more than the last) while South Africa slumped from the fourth to the fifth position with 109 ratings. The Proteas have had a poor World Cup as they lost five of their seven games to crash out of the fray.

Australia go up from fifth to the fourth spot

Australia, who qualified for the semi-finals as the first team, went up a spot to No.4 with 112 ratings. Previously they had 109 ratings but the six-out-of-seven wins have done them a great favour.

Pakistan remained at No.6 as they were earlier, though their rating had gone up from 93 to 94. Bangladesh, by the virtue of their decent show in the World Cup, have pulled themselves up from the eighth to the seventh position with 92 ratings (up from 85).
Sri Lanka and the West Indies had 78 ratings each though the former had gone up from 77 to 78 while the Caribbeans had slumped eight points from 86 to get the worse rank of the two (ninth).

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Afghanistan, who equalled the record of losing seven matches on the trot, remained at No.10 though they lost two points (62 to 60).