After an overwhelming 3-0 victory in the ODI series against New Zealand, India has moved to the top spot of the ICC ODI Rankings. Before this, England was at the top after they defeated New Zealand in their first two matches against each other.
India is now at the top of the list with 114 rating points, while England sits in the second spot with 113 rating points. Australia, meanwhile, moved up to the third place with 112 rating points. Following their loss to India, New Zealand dropped to the fourth spot with 111 points.
The new No.1 team in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings 🤩
More 👉 https://t.co/sye7IF4Y6f pic.twitter.com/hZq89ZPO31
— ICC (@ICC) January 24, 2023
Before Tuesday’s game, all three sides had been tied on 113 points, with their overall points the deciding differential. England has the opportunity to reclaim the top spot if they manage to win their upcoming ODI series against South Africa 3-0.
The victory against New Zealand marks India’s eighth victory in a winning streak that began in the third ODI versus Bangladesh. In the course of this ODI winning streak, India has also made several records.
At the end of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, India had broken the record for the highest margin of victory in any men’s ODI and became the first team to win a men’s ODI by over 300 runs.
During the final ODI match against Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli scored his 46th ODI ton with 166 runs. Shubman Gill, who was the other contributor to India’s record-breaking victory, scored his second century in an ODI with 116 runs.
Before this, Kohli had reached his 45th ODI ton milestone in the first ODI match against Sri Lanka. After his many ODI accomplishments, Kohli is now three centuries away from breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries and is on the brink of becoming the first player in history to score 50 ODI tons.
From the first ODI match against New Zealand, India was a strong opponent. After winning by 12 runs in the first ODI match and then getting an eight-wicket win at Raipur in the second game, India gave a superb performance for the third ODI with a 90-run victory.
The victory is largely thanks to Rohit Sharma (101) and Shubman Gill (112), who gave a stunning start to the match with a 212-run opening stand and set India up for a giant first-innings score of 385/9. Gill’s ton in the match also marked his fourth ODI hundred.
Across the three games, Gill totalled 360 runs, matching Babar Azam’s record for the most scored in a three-match bilateral men’s ODI series.
In the later innings, Hardik Pandya (54) and Shardul Thakur (25) helped boost the team’s total with a combined total of 79 runs. Even a stunning century from Kiwi opener Devon Conway wasn’t enough to deny India the win.
Following the ODI series against New Zealand, India will have an ODI series against Australia starting on March 17 at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. The last time India and Australia played against each other in an ODI series was in November 2020, and Australia won the series 2-0.