India Retain Top ICC ODI Rankings Despite Narrowing Lead Over New Zealand

India's rating slipped by one point, from 119 to 118, while New Zealand gained two points, moving up to 113, reducing the gap between the top two sides from eight to five. Despite the marginal decline, India remains the leading ODI side in world cricket and continues to dominate the white-ball rankings after also retaining the No. 1 spot in the men's T20I rankings following last week's update.

Australia, the reigning ODI world champions, stayed third with an unchanged rating of 109.

The biggest movement inside the top five came from South Africa, which climbed above Pakistan to move into fourth place. South Africa gained four rating points to reach 102, while Pakistan dropped four points to 98 and slipped to fifth in the standings.

Sri Lanka retained sixth place despite losing two points, sitting on 96 points, while Afghanistan remained seventh with 93 points after a minor drop. England stayed eighth after gaining one rating point, while Bangladesh held on to ninth place with 84 points.

The gap between Bangladesh and 10th-placed West Indies widened significantly after the Caribbean side lost three rating points to fall to 74.

Outside the top 10, Ireland moved above Zimbabwe into 11th place after gaining two rating points. Zimbabwe slipped to 12th following a one-point decline.

The United States also made progress, overtaking Scotland to move into 13th position after increasing its rating to 46. Scotland dropped one place after losing a point.

Further down the table, the Netherlands registered one of the strongest gains in the rankings update, adding four points to move to 44, while Oman improved to 33 points.

Nepal suffered a four-point drop to 25, while Namibia improved marginally to 23.

There was also movement at the bottom of the rankings as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) climbed above Canada into 19th position after gaining three points. Canada endured the sharpest decline in the latest update, dropping six points and falling to the bottom of the table with a rating of 10.

The ICC annual update takes into account performances over a defined ranking period, with recent results carrying greater weight in determining team ratings.

Alongside India's continued dominance in ODI and T20I cricket, Australia currently leads the ICC men's Test rankings and also holds the top spot in both the women's ODI and women's T20I team rankings.

- IANS