India move up to 3rd place in ICC ODI rankings, just one point behind Australia

India gained five points to move up to 3rd place with South Africa maintaining its pole position in the latest International Cricket Council One-day International rankings, reported PTI.

Australia remained in the second position while India, which will defend the ICC Champions Trophy title in the UK in June, has swapped places with World Cup 2015 finalists New Zealand.

Both the sides have gained points following the update but India’s five-point gain against New Zealand’s increase of three means India are now ranked third with 117 points and New Zealand a notch below at fourth with 115 points in their kitty.

The West Indies are in a spot of bother as per the latest rankings list released on Monday. Eighth-ranked Pakistan has opened up a nine-point advantage over ninth-ranked the West Indies, which can prove decisive since England plus the next seven highest-ranked sides as on 30 September 2017 will qualify automatically for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Both Pakistan and ninth-ranked West Indies have dropped points: The 1992 World Cup winners slipped from 90 points to 88 points while the Windies went from 83 to 79 points. However, Pakistan’s pre-update seven-point gap has extended to nine points.

As such, the table now reflects all matches from May 1 2014, with matches played from 1 May 2016 carrying 100 per cent weightage. Seventh-ranked Bangladesh and sixth-ranked Sri Lanka have also conceded points.

Bangladesh has surrendered one point and is now on 91 points, but its gap over eighth-ranked Pakistan has increased from two points to three. Sri Lanka, which was sitting pretty on 98 points prior to the annual update, has slid to 93 points to now lead Bangladesh by only two points. However, Sri Lanka leads the West Indies by 14 points.

Meanwhile, South Africa has gained four points to remain on top with 123 points, while second-ranked Australia stay put on 118 points. England, which will host the next month’s Champions Trophy and the World Cup in 2019, has retained its fifth ranking but has moved up one point to 109.

There is no change to 10th-ranked Afghanistan’s tally of 52 points, but 11th-ranked Zimbabwe has dropped two points and is now on 46 points. Ireland has gained one point and is on 43 points.