Four teams including Pakistan improved their rankings this year, thanks to a dip in the performance of teams like Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The remaining teams’ positions remained the same during this period.
Australia suffered the worst patch in their performance as the Aussies managed to win only 2 out of their 13 ODIs, the worst among the top 18 international teams, which is alarming not just for the World Champions, but for the cricket fans as well. This meant a loss of 14 points this year as Australia slid to the 6th position below Pakistan which was previously ranked at 6th.
South Africa, another strong performer at the global stage, lost 9 points after winning 9 games and losing 8 in the year. South Africa is the only other team than Australia to have lost more than 5 points this year. South Africa has been displaced from 1st to 4th spot in the ICC rankings, despite winning 9 matches; 6 of these matches have been against low-ranked sides like Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan added 15 points – the most by any team – to claim the 10th spot from Zimbabwe, whereas England clinched 12 points to jump 3 places – the biggest jump by any team – to be crowned the new number 1 team, thanks to 17 wins and 6 losses in the calendar year.
Pakistan lost three points in the period, however, a dip in the rankings for South Africa and Australia helped Pakistan rise one spot to end the year as the 5th ranked team.
New Zealand was solid at 112 points and without increasing any points, New Zealand managed to climb two positions, again thanks to the poor rankings for South Africa and Australia.
The final ODI rankings for the year 2018 stands as following:
| Position | +/- Position | Team | Points (+/-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +3 | England | 126 (+12) |
| 2 | – | India | 121 (+2) |
| 3 | +2 | New Zealand | 112 (-) |
| 4 | -3 | South Africa | 111 (-9) |
| 5 | +1 | Pakistan | 102 (-3) |
| 6 | -3 | Australia | 100 (-14) |
| 7 | – | Bangladesh | 92 (-) |
| 8 | – | Sri Lanka | 79 (-5) |
| 9 | – | West Indies | 73 (-3) |
| 10 | +1 | Afghanistan | 67 (+15) |
| 11 | -1 | Zimbabwe | 52 (-) |
Specially Thanks to SirFARAZ & XI