London, June 19: India’s three-match winning streak in the group stages of the Champions Trophy has stretched their lead at the top of the ICC ODI rankings to eight points. India were already the no 1 ranked team in the world and their three wins over South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan have taken their total from 119 to 121 points, the ICC said in a statement.
England’s run to the semi-finals pushes them to second, marginally above Australia, who failed to win a game in the tournament. Both teams have 113 points but “Alastair Cook’s side is ranked above Michael Clarke’s team by a fraction of a point”.
India have won all three of their games in the Champions Trophy. AP
England began the tournament ranked no 4, which means South Africa drops down from third. While South Africa has also made the semi-finals, they have won just one game, losing to India and tying with the West Indies.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan retain their positions at five and six, with New Zealand narrowly ahead of West Indies in seventh.
Among the bowlers, Ravindra Jadeja, who is the second leading wicket-taker in the tournament with nine wickets, has moved up three places to fourth, Jadeja has also been very stringy, giving away just 3.59 runs an over. He took his first five-wicket haul in ODIs against the West Indies in India’s second game.
Sunil Narine still tops the rankings, but is now followed by Steven Finn, who has moved up to joint-second with Saeed Ajmal. James Anderson rounds out the top five.
Hashim Amla continues to head the batting table, followed by his captain AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. England captain Alastair Cook has moved up two places to eighth, while Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who top scored for Pakistan in all three of their games, breaks back into the top 10
Meanwhile Shikhar Dhawan, who has scored 264 runs in the tournament, with two centuries, breaks into the rankings at no 50.