India vs Australia: Kohli’s India have chance to close in on England in ODI team rankings

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Updated: Jan 09, 2019 13:16 IST

Virat Kohli and his pace ace Jasprit Bumrah continued to top the individual charts and India could reach within one point of leaders England in the ICC ODI team rankings, provided they win their next eight matches.

India, who play three matches against Australia and five against New Zealand, could reach 125 points and within one point of England if they are able to win all eight matches while Pakistan need to beat South Africa 5-0 in order to overtake them.

England lead the table with 126 points while India are currently placed second with 121 points.

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Kohli (1) and Rohit Sharma (2) maintained their positions in the batting list, and Bumrah also remained way ahead in the bowling rankings ahead of Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and his India teammate Kuldeep Yadav, who was placed third.

Among other Indians, the rankings charts also included batsman Shikhar Dhawan (9) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who was placed joint sixth with Adil Rashid of England.

Players from other teams also made movements.

New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and fast bowler Lachlan Ferguson have moved up after creditable performances during a 3-0 sweep over Sri Lanka in a home series that ended on Tuesday.

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The two are now in joint-31st position after Sodhi’s eight wickets in the series helped him climb up 26 slots and Ferguson’s seven wickets lifted him 12 places to a career-best position in the list led by India fast bowler Bumrah.

Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga is another bowler to gain in the latest update, moving up three places to take 46th spot after finishing with seven scalps in the series.

Among international batsmen, Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill have retained their third and 14th positions after scoring 281 and 153 runs, respectively, while New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has dropped out of the top-10 to 11th position. Henry Nicholls has gained 21 places to take 59th position while Colin Munro has moved up from 58th to 56th.

Niroshan Dickwella (up one place to 26th), Thisara Perera (up 22 places to 65th), Kusal Perera (up seven places to 66th) and Danushka Gunathilaka (up 11 places to 82nd) are the batsmen to gain from the Sri Lanka side. In the ODI Team Rankings, New Zealand have retained third position after blanking the opposition. They have gained one point to move up to 113 while Sri Lanka remain in eighth position but have lost one point to drop to 78 points.

Meanwhile, more sides will be looking to move up the rankings while also preparing for the ICC World Cup in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14, with 13 matches scheduled in a period of just over three weeks. India get a chance to close the gap with table leaders England, and South Africa of moving up from their fourth position.