Pakistan slip to number 9 in ICC ODI rankings

The Pakistan cricket team will be in a spot of bother at the moment. After West Indies completed a clinical win over Sri Lanka in their first match of the ongoing tri-series, they have crept to number 8 in the rankings. The worst sufferers of this West Indies win is apparently the Pakistani side. Pakistan have now moved down to the number 9 spot in the ICC ODI rankings. However, this does not impact their chances of participating in the ICC Champions Trophy next year.

The qualification dates for the ICC mega event concluded almost an year ago. The top 8 teams on the cut off date made it to the Champions Trophy 2016 to be played in England. Pakistan were ranked number 8 at that moment and it helped them qualify for the tournament. What that meant is no participation of the Caribbean team in the tournament next year. However, now the Pakistani team has hit a new low as they languish at the penultimate position of ICC ODI top 10 teams.

Pakistani journalist Mazher Arshad took to micro-blogging site Twitter soon after the match between Sri Lanka and West Indies ended. He tweeted, “West Indies return to number eight in the ICC ODI Rankings with a win against Sri Lanka in Harare. Pakistan slip to number nine. #Rankings.”

West Indies return to number eight in the ICC ODI Rankings with a win against Sri Lanka in Harare. Pakistan slip to number nine. #Rankings

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) November 16, 2016

Incidentally, Pakistan had recently drubbed the West Indies team in their ‘home’ series at UAE. They had convincingly whitewashed the touring West Indies. Batsman Babar Azam was the revelation of the series as he struck 3 consecutive centuries in the series to see Pakistan dominate the visiting team. Despite their efforts, they find themselves in the bottom half of the points table. This is perhaps due to their relatively poor outings in the ODIs against the top ranked teams.

Also read – PCB name Azhar Mahmood as Pakistan bowling coach

Pakistan have had contrasting fortunes across different formats of the game. While they have been a force to beat in the Tests, they have offered only sporadic success in the ODIs. Their next ODI assignment will be against Australia in a 5 match ODI series down under. The series will kick off on January 13 next year.