India have retained the No. 1 position in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings following the annual update, although their lead over New Zealand has narrowed from eight points to five. After the revision, India have dropped from 119 to 118 rating points. New Zealand, meanwhile, have gained two points to rise to 113, tightening the gap at the top. Australia, the reigning World Cup champions, remain third with an unchanged 109 points.
The only change inside the top 10 sees South Africa (102) moving ahead of Pakistan (98) to claim fourth place.
Further down the table, the gap between ninth-placed Bangladesh and the West Indies has widened significantly, now standing at 10 points.
There have also been a few positional swaps outside the top 10. Ireland have overtaken Zimbabwe to move into 11th place, the USA have climbed above Scotland to 13th, and the United Arab Emirates have moved ahead of Canada to take 19th position.
In other ICC rankings updated recently, India also hold the top spot in the Men’s T20I rankings. Australia lead the Test rankings and are also ranked No. 1 in both the women’s ODI and T20I formats.
India will host Afghanistan for a bilateral ODI series from Saturday.
The hosts will be without batting superstar Virat Kohli who has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury after initially being picked in the squad. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made his ODI debut last year when Kohli missed a match due to fitness concern, has been called in as replacement.
The Shubman Gill-led team is also expected to be without allrounder Hardik Pandya who has reportedly complained of quadricep strain and the medical team has advised him to rest which means he won’t be available foe the three games.
