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India poised to topple Proteas in ICC ODI Championship

* Australia slip to third position and England jump two spots to fourth as New Zealand drop to fifth and Pakistan sixth following annual update

Staff Report

LAHORE: India have moved up to second place on the ICC ODI Championship table following the annual update. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team have jumped ahead of Australia and are now just one ratings point behind number-one-ranked South Africa after the adjustment. “The annual update is carried out to ensure the ICC ODI Championship table continues to reflect recent form with older results being discarded,” said a media release of the ICC on Sunday.

“The table reflects all ODIs between the teams represented on the table that took place since 1 August two years ago. All matches played until the start of next August will be added to this table, so by then the ratings will be based on three years of results and, over those three years, matches played in the most recent year will carry most weight,” added the release.

India’s rise in this year’s update reflects their outstanding record during the past 12 months and also the dropping of a much poorer set of results in the year ending July 2007.With the ICC Champions Trophy, which takes place from 22 September to 5 October in South Africa, the battle for supremacy atop the table will add extra spice to that elite eight-team event. That battle could end up being a three-horse race if Australia or England are dominant when those teams go head to head in a seven-match ODI series in September.

England have fared well as a result of the update as they rise two places from sixth to fourth spot in the latest team rankings. As a consequence, New Zealand fall from fourth to fifth position with Pakistan dropping to sixth spot after losing the first two of the ongoing ODI series in Sri Lanka.

Indeed, if Younis Khan’s team loses the next ODI in Dambulla on Monday (today), they will fall below Sri Lanka into seventh spot albeit with an immediate chance to retake sixth place in the fourth and fifth ODIs of the series.

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