Courtesy of their resounding win over Australia in the second ODI at Indore, India will go into the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 with momentum on their side.
India’s win in Indore has ensured that they go into the Cricket World Cup as the No. 1 side in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings. Before the start of the series, The Men in Blue needed at least two wins to go into the marquee event at home at the top.
India reached the ODI Rankings summit after winning the first ODI against Australia at Mohali. They will now continue to reign supreme across all formats as the number one team, having already occupied the top spot in Tests and T20Is.
India is placed at the top spot with 117 rating points, while Pakistan sit at second with 115 rating points. Australia, on the other hand, slipped further and is third with 110 points.
This is only the second time in men’s cricketing history that a side has achieved the No.1 ranking across the formats. Prior to this, only South Africa had achieved the feat back in August 2012.
India needed to win the second ODI to ensure their reign at the top of the rankings continues and they did it in some style with a thorough all-round performance.
Coming to the match, India was put to bat first by Australia. A 200-run partnership for second wicket between Shubman Gill (104 in 97 balls, six fours and four sixes) and Shreyas Iyer (105 in 90 balls, 11 fours and three sixes) laid the foundation for something big. Later, half-centuries from skipper KL Rahul (52 in 38 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and Suryakumar Yadav (72* in 37 balls with six fours and six sixes) and a cameo from Ishan Kishan (31 in 18 balls with two fours and two sixes) pushed India to 399/5 in 50 overs.
Cameron Green took two wickets for Australia but gave away 103 runs. Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott and Adam Zampa took a wicket each.
In the chase of 400, Australia was reduced to 9/2 and rain interrupted the action. Following resumption of action, the target was 317 in 33 overs.
An 80-run stand between David Warner (53 in 39 balls, seven fours and a six) and Marnus Labuschagne (27) stabilised the innings a bit. But after this, wickets kept falling and the Aussies sunk to 140/8.
A 77-run explosive partnership between Abbott (54 in 36 balls with four boundaries and five sixes) and Josh Hazlewood (23) entertained the audience, but the Aussies were bundled out for 217 in 28.2 overs, losing by 99 runs.
Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for India with 3/41, with his spin partner Ravindra Jadeja getting 3/42. Prasidh Krishna got two wickets while Mohammed Shami got one.
India has won the series 2-0 with one match to go.
Shreyas Iyer was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his century. (ANI)
