India lose points in latest ICC ODI rankings despite series win

Riding on Kohli’s century, India completed a comprehensive win in the final ODI

Following the conclusion of the five-match series between India and West Indies, the ICC released the latest update in their ODI rankings. Despite a 3-1 win over the hosts, India (114) lost two points but stayed put on the No.3 spot, behind South Africa (119) and Australia (117).

India completed a comprehensive win over an insipid West Indian side in the final ODI at Sabina Park, recovering quickly from their embarrassing loss to them in the fourth ODI. Riding on Virat Kohli’s 28th ODI century, the tourists chased down the 206-run target with more than 13 overs to spare. While the Indian captain was named the player of the match, Ajinkya Rahane got the honours of the best player of the series. 

Before the start of the series, the Indian team stood at 116 points in the rankings table, following their huge loss against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2017 final. The West Indies side arrested their slide down the rankings with a win in the fourth ODI, managing to gain one point to reach to 78. Their chances of qualifying for the ICC World Cup 2019 are getting slimmer by the day, even as they stay in the ninth spot, below sixth-ranked Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The one loss hurt India enough to sustain a  two-point loss, hurting their chances of going to the top-two by usurping Australia.

The West Indies series ends for India with a one-off T20I between the two sides at Sabina Park on July 9. After the Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe ODI series ends, no international matches are scheduled to be played for a while. India’s next tour to Sri Lanka begins on July 26, with the first Test at Galle.

West Indies have continued to show sparks of good form, but sadly, it has been inconsistently spread in very small patches. Barring the inexplicable batting collapse in the fourth ODI, the Indian team ticked most of its boxes right, with Ajinkya Rahane’s form being one of the biggest bright spots from the series.

Here’s the updated rankings list:

RANK	TEAM	POINTS
1	SOUTH AFRICA	119
2	AUSTRALIA	117
3	INDIA	114
4	ENGLAND	113
5	NEW ZEALAND	111
6	PAKISTAN	95
7	BANGLADESH	94
8	SRI LANKA	92
9	WEST INDIES	78
10	AFGHANISTAN	54
11	ZIMBABWE	47
12	IRELAND	41