India slips to third in ICC ODI Team Rankings

Dubai: India has dropped to third position in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings.

Sri Lanka's 3-2 series win helped it gain one ratings point to move up to 112, the same ratings points as India. However, when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Angelo Mathews' side is ranked ahead of India, and now sits in second place.

England, on the other hand, dropped one ratings point to finish on 109, on par with South Africa. When ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Alastair Cook's side is ranked behind South Africa, in fifth place.

Sri Lanka started the series in third place with 111 ratings points, while England was in fourth place with 110 ratings points.

Rank (+/-) Team Rating (+/-):

1 Australia 115

2 (+1) Sri Lanka 112 (+1)

3 (-1) India 112

4 South Africa 109

5 (-1) England 109 (-1)

6 Pakistan 100

7 New Zealand 98

8 West Indies 94

9 Bangladesh 73

10 Zimbabwe 61

India surrenders No 1 ODI rank

Hamilton: India were today dethroned as the number one ODI team after they suffered an agonising 15-run defeat in a rain-truncated second cricket one-dayer against New Zealand, who have now taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match series here.

India, who desperately needed a win to retain their top spot, made a valiant effort to overhaul the revised target of 297 in 42 overs but failed to cross the finishing line scoring 277 for nine in 41.3 overs, giving Australia pole position in the ICC ODI rankings. The Duckworth-Lewis par score in 41.3 overs was 293.

Put into bat, the Kiwis rattled up 271 for seven riding on Kane Williamson's 76 and all-rounder Corey Anderson's rampaging 17-ball-44 that included five huge sixes as the hosts amassed a whopping 101 runs in 8.4 overs after rain interruption.

India were left with a daunting task of chasing a revised target of 297 as per the D/L method and were again done in by a shaky start and lack of big partnerships which has been their bane of late.

Virat Kohli, who hit a century in the first ODI, again top-scored with a sparkling 78 while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (56), Suresh Raina (35), Ajinkya Rahane (36) got the starts but could not translate them into match-winning knocks.

Tim Southee (4/72) was pick of the New Zealand bowlers while Anderson again displayed his all-round prowess picking up three for 67 with wickets of Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shikhar Dhawan (12, 22 balls) and Rohit Sharma (20, 34 balls) wasted a lot of deliveries upfront as India couldn't take advantage of the bowling Powerplay.

Hockey girls bag World Cup bronze

New Delhi: Forward Rani Rampal was the star performer as India clinched their first ever medal in the Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup. India defeated a gritty England 3-2 (1-1) via sudden death in the third place playoff in Monchengladbach , Germany, on Sunday evening.
Rampal, who had earlier scored in regulation time, struck twice in the penalty shootout as India notched up their best-ever finish in the quadrennial event, bettering the ninth place finish in the 2009 edition.

In the final, Holland defeated Argentina 4-2 (11) on penalties.

Rampal converted the first chance for India in the shootout, while Navjot Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Navneet Kaur and Poonam Rani missed out.

Goalkeeper Bigan Soy stood like a rock as England too faltered on four of their five chances, forcing the game into sudden death.

This time, Rampal and Navneet converted successfully to hand India the bronze. Earlier, the teams were locked 1-1 in regulation time. Said coach Neil Hawgood, “It means a lot to our kids’ psychology that they can actually win a medal.

They have never been in those games before.

“We practised shootouts, so I thought we would score more than three out of seven. Our goalkeeper Bigan Soy, who never played a minute the whole tournament, did a great job,” he added.