- Saturday, January 11, 2025
World Cup editions since 1999 have been won by sides that have been in the top two positions in the 50-over rankings at the beginning of the tournament.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA are set to go into the 50-over World Cup starting at home on October 5 as the No.1 team in the 50-over format (in fact they are the top-ranked side in all three formats at the moment) and that might make the fans more excited as historically, ranks topping the rankings have done wonderfully well in the marquee tournament.
The Men in Blue have lost just four of the 20 matches that they have played in 2023 and with the mega event just over a week away, cannot be overtaken by any other side before the first ball of the tournament is bowled (England vs New Zealand in Ahmedabad, October 5).
Pakistan are the second-ranked team with just rating points behind their arch-rivals who have 117 and they will also go into the tournament as the second-best team in the world. The two powerhouses will lock horns in Ahmedabad on October 14.
Teams will feature in warm-up games prior to the World Cup but they do not have any official status and hence their results will not affect the team rankings.
If looked from a historical perspective, their top ranks might augur well for both India and Pakistan since every edition of the quadrennial tournament since 1999 have gone to sides that have been in the top two positions in the 50-over rankings at the beginning of the tournament.
Steve Waugh’s Australia were ranked second when they won their second title in England in 1999 and were the No.1 side when they bagged it for two consecutive times in 2003 in South Africa and 2007 in the West Indies under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India were the No.2 side in one-day internationals when they lifted the crown in Mumbai in 2011 while Australia, led by Michael Clarke in 2015, and England, led by Eoin Morgan in 2019, were the top-ranked teams to win the trophy at respective home territories.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had applied their rating system to results dating back to the early 1980s but there were not adequate data to apply these ratings to results before 1981 due to less frequent matches and a small fray of competing sides.
It is therefore because of this reason that no team rankings are available for the first two editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979 that were won by Clive Lloyd’s formidable West Indies in England.
In 1983, Kapil Dev’s India that won the tournament were ranked at No.5 who beat the West Indies, the then No.1 side.
In 1987, Allan Border’s Australia lifted their first ever cup as the No.4 team and beat rivals England who were at No.1.
In 1996, Arjuna Ranatunga’s Sri Lanka won the World Cup while they were at No.6 and beat Australia who were at No.1.
Besides the rankings, another good sign for India is the recent domination of host nations at the cricket World Cup. While once it was considered a jinx as no host nation could win the trophy in the first five editions that were held in England (1975, 1979 and 1983); India and Pakistan (1987) and Australia and New Zealand (1992); the three most recent editions have been won by the countries that hosted the World Cup final — India in 2011; Australia in 2015 and England in 2019.
Sri Lanka won the tournament as a co-host in 1996 but England, South Africa and the West Indies failed to win the editions held on their soil, respectively, in 1999, 2003 and 2007.
In 2023, India will host the final, the third since 1987, and this time the clash will be at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19.
Only once in the history of the World Cup had the host nation failed to make the knock-out stage and it was Border’s Australia in 1992 and it was despite the fact that they were the No.1 side in the world then.
