India slips to fourth as England moves ahead

Dubai, Aug 30 (UNI) Despite winning the ODI series against Sri Lanka, India failed to retain its fourth spot and slipped to fifth place in the ICC ODI Championship table as England moved ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team.

India had started the Sri Lankan series at fourth place on 112 ratings points and finished the tournament in fifth place at 113 points. In contrast, Sri Lanka gained one ratings point after starting on 105.

Dhoni-led Indian team's defeat by 112 runs by the Duckworth- Lewis method in the fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka did not cost it any place in the Championship table after England comfortably won its third match of the five-match series by 126 runs against South Africa at The Oval to jump to fourth place in the rankings.

But the defeat cost India two ratings points, while it earned Sri Lanka one ratings point. Had India won the series 4-1, it would have risen to 115 ratings points as compared to Sri Lanka's 104.

Meanwhile, Australia is still the clear leader with 130 points.

England can go second if it wins the remaining two ODIs against South Africa. It would jump to second place on 118 ratings points, while South Africa would be on equal points with New Zealand but behind the Black Caps when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

However, if England wins the series 4-1 it will sit just behind India by a fraction of a point. In that case, South Africa will retain second place on the table but will have slipped to 119 points after starting the series on 128.

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