We are now no.1 in tests, no.1 in ODIs and also world champs

[Sir_Afridi]

rankings mean everything. they accurately indicate which team has been the most successful over the last 3 years.

Not true. Teams need to play same number of matches home & Away in a neutral ranking system.

[Karan114]

rankings mean everything. they accurately indicate which team has been the most successful over the last 3 years. australia has declined recently, but over the last 3 years they had great results. champions trophy win, series win in india, etc. which is why they are ranked so high. if they keep declining, they will lose the top spot to india, which is fair enough. india should focus on holding top spot in the ODI ranking for the next 4 years.

It was probably incorrect to say they mean nothing, but the World Cup is the main driver in ODI cricket. In between World Cups you do want to be winning, but often players are rotated and rested especially for the more meaningless tri-series type tournaments. Australia is deservedly no.1 based on the ranking but winning the World Cup means a lot, lot more. In Test cricket rankings are far more important as that's the only way teams can be judged. It is also rare for players from top teams to be rotated or rested from Test series as every Test series is important in itself.

[ViruRulez]

It was probably incorrect to say they mean nothing, but the World Cup is the main driver in ODI cricket. In between World Cups you do want to be winning, but often players are rotated and rested especially for the more meaningless tri-series type tournaments. Australia is deservedly no.1 based on the ranking but winning the World Cup means a lot, lot more. In Test cricket rankings are far more important as that's the only way teams can be judged. It is also rare for players from top teams to be rotated or rested from Test series as every Test series is important in itself.

To be frank, rankings are still better criteria of judging a team's abilities and performances than the world cup. Winning the world cup is great but to be frank it does not show consistency. It also needs luck to some extent in the knockout stages. The top 8 test teams anyways make it to the knockout stage in most cases. Then you have QF, SF and Final which are all single games and knockouts. And in knockouts anyone can have a bad or a good day. So, I do not agree that the WC is the actual criteria for sure as a crap team might have good days and go to semis etc. They might also have weaker opponents due to luck as Lankans had. Unless there is at least best of 3 QF, SF and Final I would not say that it is the actual criteria of the quality of a team. Knockouts cannot the final judge of a team's ability. WC means more for sure but I would judge a team's quality more by ranking rather than WC alone. However, I would have liked including only last 12 months performance while judging the ranking of teams instead of 3 years as it is done right now.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

It was probably incorrect to say they mean nothing, but the World Cup is the main driver in ODI cricket. In between World Cups you do want to be winning, but often players are rotated and rested especially for the more meaningless tri-series type tournaments. Australia is deservedly no.1 based on the ranking but winning the World Cup means a lot, lot more. In Test cricket rankings are far more important as that's the only way teams can be judged. It is also rare for players from top teams to be rotated or rested from Test series as every Test series is important in itself.

i agree, the world cup is the ultimate but maintaining a top ranking over a number of years is the 2nd best thing. only the best teams can do it. u are right about the rotation and meaningless tri series, but thats something that affects every team.

[sangrock]

According to ICC we are still no2 in ODIs.................maybe rankings will change on Monday :hmmm:

It said April 2.. so probably updated for the WC. Lets hope for the best on Monday :P

[NareshK]

I just saw in that table that Australia is now No.5 in test rankings. How the mighty have fallen !

[Karan114]

i agree, the world cup is the ultimate but maintaining a top ranking over a number of years is the 2nd best thing. only the best teams can do it.

Agree with this. Only the best teams can sustain the no.1 ranking but the World Cup will always be important all the same.

[Prakat]

India does the Cricket Grand Slam! :yess:

[IndianRenegade]

And according to ICC Ranking predictor http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/odi_predictor.php We would still be no. 2 even if Aus lose all three games to Bangladesh!:finger: