Which team was No. 1 in ICC ODI rankings before the last 3 men's World Cups?
After winning the Asia Cup 2023 and the first of three ODIs against Australia, India became only the second team in history to sit on top of the ICC men's ODI rankings in all three formats. The last team to do so was South Africa in August 2012 after an ODI win over England under AB de Villiers's captaincy.
India achieved the feat after the No. 1 spot shifted hands 10 times in 2023. Australia and Pakistan alone took eight alternative turns since March. This meant that India would go to the 2023 World Cup as not only the host side but also the most in-form.
Captain Rohit Sharma, though, downplayed the achievement.
“It doesn't really matter what kind of ranking you go with or what sort of performances you've had in the past," Rohit said recently. "Yes, it's a good positive thing to take forward, but you know that the sport these days is played at present... I don't think anyone will be worried about the rankings at this point because we have bigger things to worry about," he added.
Rankings per se might not make a big difference to a team's future but recent form has always been a factor for major tournaments.
On that note, let's look at which team was at the top in the past three World Cups and how the journey panned out for them.
ICC 2019 World Cup - England
England went through an ODI revolution around 2015 to transform from an almost-Test-like style of batting to an almost T20-esque style. They hadn't been on top of the ODI rankings between early January 2013 to mid-2019.
But their project peaked at just the right time and Eoin Morgan's team took the top spot in May 2018 in the ICC's annual update. Apart from a one-off match loss against Scotland, England remained unbeaten in ODIs till the 2019 World Cup, notching massive series wins against Australia, Pakistan, and West Indies.
India took the No. 1 spot briefly in the middle of the 2019 World Cup. But England took it back after just five days and went on to win the tournament. They also reached the highest rating of 135 points, the best yet in over 25 years.
ICC 2015 World Cup - Australia
Australia led the ICC men's ODI rankings for a whopping 26 months on both sides of the 2011 World Cup. It was the third-longest streak for a team after Australia's spell of 52 weeks in the early 2000s and 35 weeks around the 2011 World Cup.
In the leadup to the 2015 World Cup, they lost a one-off match against New Zealand but took clinical ODI series wins over Pakistan and South Africa. They also won a tri-series against England and India at home.
Like England in 2019, Australia's ICC rankings dominance spilled into the 2015 World Cup. Michael Clarke's team lost just one match against co-hosts New Zealand in the group stage.
They went on an unbeaten run after that, culminating in an easy seven-wicket win over the Brendon McCullum-led Blackcaps in the final.
ICC 2011 World Cup - Australia
Australia's 35-month streak at the top of the ICC men's ODI rankings lasted between September 2009 and August 2012. Before the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent, they defeated England 6-1 in a seven-match series and New Zealand in another one-off ODI, but lost to India away and Sri Lanka at home.
The Aussies won four of their six matches in the league stage of the 2011 World Cup. Although they qualified for the knockouts easily, Pakistan ended their 34-match unbeaten run at ODI World Cups with a brilliant bowling performance in Colombo.
In the end, a complete batting performance from eventual champions India led to their exit in the second Qualifier.