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India National Cricket Team regains the No.1 spot in the ICC T20I rankings, only 72 hours after losing the spot to the England national cricket team. The match against Japan proved very tight to claim a win for the Shreyas Iyer-led team, but effective enough to reclaim the top spot in the team rankings.
After the Japan match, the Indian cricket team reclaimed the top spot based on their points, which is way better than England's total number of points in the men's T20 internationals.
Team India No.1 in ICC T20I Rankings
According to the updated ICC T20I rankings, India, after playing 65 matches, has 17,480 points and a rating of 269. England also has the same rating but with a total of 11021 points after participating in 41 matches. Australia, the former world champions, is in third place with 260 rating and a total of 9868 points in 38 T20I matches.
New Zealand and South Africa are placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the rankings. While the Blackcaps have 12348 points and a rating of 247, playing 50 matches in the format, South Africa, the winner of the previous edition of the World Test Championship (WTC), is at 12881 points and 243 rating.
The India vs Japan one-off T20I match did not have enough effect on the rankings except in the top two places; India jumped one place to capture the top spot, and England slipped one place to find themselves in second place. Japan also remained the same in the ICC T20I rankings for the men's cricket teams. They are at the 41st spot.
India defeated Japan by only 2 runs
Talking about the India vs Japan T20I match in Sano, it was surprisingly a close contest. Ahead of the match, Shreyas Iyer stated that he was expecting a thrilling match in Japan, as they had no idea about the playing conditions there.
It was the first bilateral match between these two cricket teams, which was arranged to celebrate the 75th year of India-Japan friendship on the diplomatic stage. A one-sided match was widely predicted because of the clear difference in strengths and experience on the global stage between the two sides.
The 20-over match under the heavy conditions was reduced to 5 overs. The total number of overs might have been reduced, but the thrill and competition between the two teams increased by miles.
Shreyas Iyer acknowledged the spirit of the Japan cricket team
Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat first. Under the heavy conditions, there was some movement on the ball. India, losing four wickets, managed to score only 32 runs on the scoreboard. Chasing the run, the home side, Japan, got 30, losing the match by only 2 runs.
"I personally feel that at least we got a game to see and to honestly experience such a great performance from the Japanese team and also the Indian players as well. So yeah, overall, I feel it was an exciting game, and yeah, honestly, they were also brilliant with their performances," Shreyas Iyer said after the match.
