India have overtaken Pakistan to reach the third position in the ICC ODI Team Rankings following their thumping 10-wicket win over England in the first ODI at Kennington on Tuesday.
Earlier, India were placed fourth in the rankings with 105 points and Pakistan were third with 106 points. But after their win over England, India received two more rating points and reached a total of 108. This pushed India among the top three and Pakistan fell to the fourth position.
New Zealand are the ranking-toppers with 126 points, followed by England, who are in second position with 122 points.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah was the chief destroyer in the Indian pace attack that restricted England to just 110 on Tuesday, taking 6/19. Mohammed Shami took three wickets while Prasidh Krishna got one. Indian pacers were all over the England batters and many heavyweights failed the hosts with the bat.
India cruised to a ten-wicket victory with help of captain Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 76 off 58 balls and support from Shikhar Dhawan (31*). Men in Blue won the game with more than 31 overs to spare.
The victory continues Rohit’s unbeaten run in ODIs since his appointment as permanent captain, making it four wins out of four games.
Pakistan pushed down India to the No 4 spot in the rankings last month after completing a clean sweep over West Indies and climbed to third after Australia fell off after an ODI series loss to Sri Lanka. However, their stay at No 3 was a short one, with India claiming the spot.
India have a chance to stretch their lead further with two more ODIs against England and three-match series against West Indies scheduled for this month. But they could drop to fourth again if they lose the two ODIs against England.
Pakistan’s next ODI assignment is a three-match series against the Netherlands next month.
