Pakistan will also have to win the final one-dayer of the series against New Zealand to maintain their first position in the ODI rankings.
The Pakistani team was warned of the risk of losing their position as soon as they became number 1 in the ICC rankings. According to the details, in the fourth one-day match of the series, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by a huge margin of 102 runs. Pakistan became the captain.
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Since the ICC ODI Rankings were released in 2005, Pakistan has topped the ICC ODI Rankings for the first time in 11 years. Prior to the start of the five-match ODI series against Pakistan and New Zealand, Pakistan was ranked fifth in the ODI rankings.
Pakistan is currently leading Australia and India by decimal points, if Pakistan wins even the fifth match, its lead will be clear. However, the rankings may change after the annual update of ODI rankings in mid-May. After Pakistan’s 102-run win in the fourth ODI, Pakistan’s points in the ODI ranking list now stand at 113.483, Australia’s rating points are 113.286, and India’s rating points are 112.638.
It has been reported that Pakistan will have to complete a clean sweep in the ODI series against the Kiwis in order to maintain the first position in the ICC ODI rankings and increase their points. It should be noted that in the fourth ODI of the series played in Karachi, New Zealand invited Pakistan to bat first after winning the toss. 5 changes were made in the Pakistan team for the match to be played at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi.
Shaan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Muhammad Haris, Osama Mir, and Haris Rauf have become part of the playing XI in place of Imamul Haq, Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafiq, Naseem Shah, and Muhammad Nawaz. Shaheen Afridi’s sixes on the last few balls of the first innings helped Pakistan to score 334 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 50 overs. On behalf of Pakistan, Babar Azam was the most prominent by scoring a brilliant century, while Salman Ali Agha scored a half-century, Shan Masood scored 44 runs and Shaheen Shah Afridi played a smoky innings of 23 runs off 7 balls.
Muhammad Rizwan scored 24, Iftikhar Ahmed scored 28 runs, Matt Henry stood out with 3 wickets for New Zealand, and Ash Sodhi and Ben Lister took one wicket each. In response to the target of 335 runs, the entire team of New Zealand collapsed by scoring 232 runs in the 44th over, Pakistan’s Osama Mir 4, Muhammad Wasim 3, Haris Rauf 2, and Shaheen Shah Afridi managed to get a wicket.
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