Pakistan have lost their top spot in the ICC ODI Rankings in less than 48 hours. They had become the number 1 ODI team after their win over New Zealand in the fourth ODI of the five-match series. But the Men in Green also had to win the 5th One-Day of the series to retain their numero uno spot. That didn't happen as they couldn't chase down a 300-run target to lose the game by 47 runs.
New Zealand had scored 299 runs batting first on the back of half--centuries from Will Young (87) and skipper Tom Latham (59). In response, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular wickets. But the middle and lower-order resistance led by Agha Salman and Iftikhar Ahmed helped them revive their innings before the hosts were bundled out for 252 runs. Henry Shipley was the best bowler for New Zealand with figures of 3/34 in 10 overs.
With this loss, Pakistan lost one rating point and slipped to third position with 112 points to their name. Australia have reclaimed their top spot in the latest ranking update while India are at the second position. England are sitting at the fourth place with 111 rating points and New Zealand, after losing 4-1 to Pakistan, are at the fifth position with 108 points.
The top five teams are separated only by five points but there is a fair gap between them and the bottom five. South Africa are at sixth place with 101 points, seven points behind New Zealand. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Afghanistan follow them respectively to complete the top 10 list of latest ODI rankings. Ireland will be facing Bangladesh in three ODIs later this month and that gives both sides a chance to improve their rating points as well.
