Team India back on their way upward

[King]

Team India back on their way upward Dubai, January 26: India's successes in the first two ODIs in the ongoing series against the West Indies have given Rahul Dravid's side the prospect of climbing back up to fourth place in the ICC ODI Championship table. With the victories in Nagpur and Cuttack, India have closed the gap on the sides immediately above it--fourth-placed New Zealand and fifth-placed Sri Lanka?to just a single rating point. India was as high as third in the table in last April, but debilitating losses in the Caribbean and South Africa and well as disappointing form at home in the ICC Champions Trophy in October plunged the side to sixth position. If India continues its winning run in Chennai on Saturday and in Vadodara on January 31, it will not only overtake Mahela Jayawardene's men but could do likewise with Stephen Fleming's line-up if New Zealand loses both its upcoming tri-series matches against Australia and England. Two more wins for India would also leave it just two rating points adrift of neighbours Pakistan, although both sides are still a long way short of catching second-placed South Africa and table-topping world champions Australia. Graeme Smith's side is 14 points clear of Pakistan prior to the two sides' five-match ODI series immediately before the ICC Cricket World Cup. Meanwhile, Australia, which has gained three rating points since the start of its annual tri-series thanks to its unbeaten record, is now eight points ahead of the Proteas. At the other end of the table, the West Indies' two losses have seen its rating slide and it is now just two points clear of eighth-placed England, itself in a run of poor results. In the LG ICC Rankings for ODI players, India's top-ranked batsman is Mahendra Singh Dhoni on sixth spot and he has two team-mates for company in the top 20, with Dravid 15th and the fit-again Yuvraj Singh 18th. Sachin Tendulkar lies 25th, Virender Sehwag is 31st and Sourav Ganguly re-enters the listing in 67th position after narrowly missing out on three figures in Nagpur. At the top, Michael Hussey continues to dominate the batting list as England's Kevin Pietersen maintains his second spot while Adam Gilchrist of Australia climbed one place up to be third. Harbhajan Singh and the recalled Irfan Pathan are the side's two players inside the top 20 of the LG ICC player rankings for ODI bowlers. While Ajit Agarkar lies just outside that select group in 22nd position and Zaheer Khan has risen seven places to joint 38th place. Zaheer is one of the biggest climbers in the bowling top 50, along with England's Jon Lewis (up seven to 47th) and Stuart Clark of Australia (rising nine to stand at 40th). Shaun Pollock of South Africa and Glenn McGrath and Nathan Bracken of Australia were the top three bowlers with their unchanged placings.

[King]

Re: Team India back on their way upward Has this ICC ratings any bearing on the upcoming world cup's ties? I can't believe India is on upward curve just after winning 2 ODIs in a row :shrug: If am counting all right Inida must have lost 14 ODIs since playing West Indies in West Indies. These losses have come against West Indies, South Africa and Australia. India has a wood on Pakistan and England (who doesn't have against England) going by the margin they hammered both Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England. New Zealand and Bangladesh are the only ones India hasn't played since about sometime.

[Birbal2]

Re: Team India back on their way upward ICC ratings are a BLOODY Joke.. Go with Rediff ratings guys...much better designed...by desi experts...

[Dhondy]

Re: Team India back on their way upward ODI ratings leave me cold. They change in the blink of an eye. And any rating that has India moving up is just bizarre. The ICC Test ratings are just about right, I reckon. I think they will look something like this now, after the SA-Pakistan series. Australia 135 England 114 Pakistan 108 India 107 South Africa 102 Sri Lanka 102 New Zealand 93 West Indies 72

[Birbal2]

Re: Team India back on their way upward The Rediff ratings are MUCH MUCH better than the ICC ratings... The proof is in the fact that India went from 5th to 5th before and after the last World Cup...and then CRASHED to 8th in August 2003 having played only one series after the World Cup...and doing quite well there... The ratings don't take into account the IMPORTANCE of the Tournament... World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy performance should get more importance... but ICC ratings give them same points as the current Masala series in India... Secondly the ICC calender changes in August i.e. the British cricket season... WHY is that? Most of the world the season is from October to March...

[cricajar]

Re: Team India back on their way upward How can england place second in the Test rankings, they are the worst team out there-- they are just so brilliantly bad. They just suck, I mean i don't know how to explain it. They had a breif season of brilliance in 2005 with a magnificent Ashes victory, but clearly that was an aberration, a fluke as they have shown virtually no quality cricket since. Only KP dares to fight on that team, Flintoff hasn't been teh same since his injury, Strauss is out of form, Bell and Cook are growing nicely but still need time, Collingwood is underrated but certainly won't carry a team...and they're bowling looks terrible barring Panesar and Hoggard. Harmison is a little girl, a sheer waste of talent, Simon Jones pulled an Al Gore and disappeared, Anderson like Harmison waste of talent, Mahmoud sucks...they can't stick with even one wicketkeeper

[King]

Re: Team India back on their way upward That my friend is the beauty of ICC ratings :hic: They don't take into consideration the form of players or the team, the points are based on the last and the current tour of each team. In short ICC ratings have always been a shamble.