Six months after Afghanistan qualified for its maiden appearance in the Cricket World Cup, its success story continues to make waves and the strife-torn country has now entered into the main ODI rankings table for the first time.
Sunday night's dramatic one-run victory in Abu Dhabi and the cancellation of the third ODI between India and the West ensured top billing for George Bailey's side as the race to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 heats up amongst some of the top-ranked sides.
Good times are here for the Men in Blue! Their dominating performance against England coupled with Australia's shock loss to Zimbabwe made India the sole No 1 team in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued in Dubai.
India's R Ashwin back in top-10 in ICC's ODI bowling rankings
Reining World champion India has managed to retain its No 1 spot in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings after the last two 50-over games in the seven-match home series against Australia were washed-out.
Virat Kohli remained the highest-placed Indian batsman at fourth even as Shikhar Dhawan rose a rung to sixth in the latest ICC ODI rankings.
ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat on Wednesday presented the ICC ODI Shield to Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland in recognition of the team being ranked number one in the 50-over World Cup.
Australia dethroned India from the top position of the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings after its 4-1 victory over South Africa in the five-match series which concluded in Sydney.
India retained the No 1 spot in the latest Reliance ODI team rankings while Virat Kohli maintained the number two position with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni static at the seventh place in the batting chart released in Dubai.
India's Virat Kohli slipped a rung but is still the best-placed Indian batsman in third position in the latest the International Cricket Council One-Day batsmen's rankings released on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India's highest-ranked batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions respectively.
India has a chance to claim the number one spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship when it turns out for the tri-nation series involving host Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Reigning champion India will be bidding to gain further momentum and become only the third side in World Cup history to successfully defend its title after West Indies in 1975 and 1979 and Australia, who won the coveted prize three times in succession between 1999 and 2007.
Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped down the ladder to No 4 and 10 respectively, while Shikhar Dhawan retained the seventh rung in the latest Reliance ICC ODI batsmen's rankings, released on Monday.
Claire Taylor of England, India captain Jhulan Goswami and Australia's Lisa Sthalekar are on top of the world in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Women's Rankings which were launched in Mumbai on Thursday. Thirty-three-year-old Taylor spearheads a strong field of six England batters in the top 20 while fast bowler Jhulan leads the bowlers' chart and Sthalekar is just ahead of her team-mate Shelley Nitschke in the all-rounders' listing.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni retained No 1 position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after West Indies' big guns Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul failed to make an impression in the series against England, which ended on Tuesday. Gayle went into the series trailing Dhoni by 33 points but after aggregating just 42 runs from it, the Jamaican dropped one place to third while team mate Chanderpaul moved to second after a series contribution of 95 runs.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be staged in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29, and India will begin its title defence against traditional rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on February 15, the International Cricket Council announced on Tuesday.
Legendary India players Sunil Gavaskar and VVS Laxman were of the view that making the showpiece event a 14-team affair with the inclusion of the likes of Afghanistan and Scotland would significantly diminish the level of competition in the league stage.
Virat Kohli's Indian team will be aiming for another comprehensive show against a depleted Australia when the two sides square-off in the opening encounter of the five-match series, in Chennai, on Saturday.
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