Loss in the 4th ODI denies India No. 2 spot in the ODI rankings

A customary Virat Kohli century in yet another chase took the Indian skipper past Tendulkar’s tally of 17 ODI hundreds while chasing. Kohli, who has recorded 18 tons while chasing, remained unbeaten on 111. Dinesh Karthik gave his skipper good company, managing to score an unbeaten half-century in his second game after his return. Both batsmen scored briskly to make light weight of the 206-run target set by the hosts.

India consistent in the Caribbean

India took the series by a hefty 3-1 margin and would be proud of their efforts, especially after the loss in Antigua on Sunday. India, barring the loss, dominated the series. The Kohli-led side never allowed the hosts to record a score in excess of 205 in four attempts. Indian bowling was very disciplined and the batsmen too tried to cope with the two-paced nature of the wickets. Ajinkya Rahane will be particularly happy with his scores in the series. He won the Player of the Series award for scoring 336 runs in 5 games with 39 being his lowest score of the series over two weeks.

Apart from Rahane, the performance of Kuldeep Yadav was laudable. The chinaman bowler picked 8 sticks from 5 games to get a decent headstart in ODI cricket.

India retains No. 3 spot

Because of the loss at Antigua, India lost 2 points in the latest ICC ODI rankings. India started the series with 116 points and could have overtaken Australia (117 points) if they had a clean sweep over the No. 9 ranked team, the West Indies. With 114 points to their name, India have retained their third spot in the ranking.

West Indies direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup hit another blow as they gained just one point to have 78 points under their belt. They lag behind the No. 6, 7 and 8 teams – Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They need a miracle to overtake one of these teams to finish in the top 8 ranked teams before the cut-off period of the qualification.

Here are the latest ODI team rankings

*Updated after WI v IND, ODI series