South Africa retains No. 1 ODI rank after 3-0 series win

South Africa have retained the top spot in the ICC ODI Team Rankings after completing a 3-0 victory over Bangladesh in a home series that ended on Sunday.

The win in East London has lifted South Africa to 121 points while India’s loss to New Zealand in the opening match of their three-ODI series in Mumbai has kept them two points behind South Africa at 119 points.

South Africa had led India on decimal points with both sides on 120 points ahead of their Sunday’s engagements. But after today’s results, India can’t overtake South Africa in their ongoing series. India can at best reach 120 points, even if they win both their remaining matches against New Zealand.

India lost despite Kohli’s ton

Having won the toss, India chose to bat first on a pitch that had some good bounce on offer. During the toss, Kohli likened the pitch to that of the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in the match they’d played against Australia only a few weeks back. It was India’s run-machine, Virat Kohli who came to the rescue yet again. Not only did he bring up his 31st ODI century, going past Ricky Ponting’s record of 30 centuries in the format.

Coming in to bat in 2nd innings, New Zealand openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro started odd the proceedings in a feisty manner as Guptill hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar for consecutive boundaries in the very first over of the innings. Tom Latham and veteran batsman, Ross Taylor stitched a beautiful partnership for the fourth wicket, combing in one run after the other with immense patience. Boundaries were scored at regular intervals as the duo rotated the strike regularly and ran the 1’s and 2’s with lightning-quick pace. Latham and Taylor broke records as they brought up the highest partnership for any wicket at the Wankhede. Henry Nicholls sealed the match with a boundary, as New Zealand gained a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series.

Here are latest ICC ODI Team Rankings