How Pakistan can reclaim top spot in ICC ranking?

India's win over Australia by five wickets in their home ground Mohali on Friday led to their ascent to the top position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) One Day International (ODIs) rankings, knocking Pakistan down to the second position.

Their convincing victory, driven by powerful batting performances from Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul, and Suryakumar Yadav, allowed the Men In Blue to secure the top spot with a rating of 116. The four batters scored half-centuries for their team.

Pakistan currently hold the second position in the rankings with a rating of 115, making it a closely contested battle for supremacy in ODI cricket.

Before the much-anticipated ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 starts, India will play two more ODIs against Australia.

Pakistan can once again go to the top in the rankings if Australia beat India in the remaining two matches.

If the Aussies do their job, then the Green Shirts will, once again, become the number one ODI team and will enter the World Cup on a high note.

It must be noted that Pakistan recently became the number one team in ODIs after beating Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka in August.

However, with their poor performance in the Asia Cup 2023 saw them downgrading to the number three position.

But when South Africa won the five-match ODI series against Australia at their home, Pakistan once again became the top-ranked team in the ICC rankings.

The Men in Green will kick off their World Cup campaign on October 6 by taking on the Netherlands in Hyderabad.

Pakistan squad for ICC World Cup 2023

Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, M Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha.

Travelling reserves

Mohammad Haris, Abrar Ahmed, Zaman Khan

Schedule of Pakistan's warm-up matches

September 29 — vs New Zealand in Hyderabad

October 3 — vs Australia in Hyderabad

Schedule for the ICC World Cup 2023

October 6 — vs Netherlands in Hyderabad

October 10 — vs Sri Lanka in Hyderabad

October 14 — vs India in Ahmedabad

October 20 — vs Australia in Bengaluru

October 23 — vs Afghanistan in Chennai

October 27 — vs South Africa in Chennai

October 31 — vs Bangladesh in Kolkata

November 4 — vs New Zealand Bengaluru (Day match)

November 11 — vs England in Kolkata

The day matches which will start at 10:00am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) while all other matches will be day-night fixtures starting at 01:30pm (PST).