Pakistan have climbed to fourth in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings, level with third-placed South Africa on 104 rating points, after their tri-series triumph in Lahore pushed them ahead of Australia in the latest update released on November 2.
Pakistan’s rise matters because it leaves them one place outside the top three less than a year before the 2027 Cricket World Cup, which will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia from October 2 to November 21, 2027, and gives Shaheen Shah Afridi’s side a stronger seeding position heading into the tournament.
India lead the updated table with 115 rating points, followed by New Zealand on 109, according to the ICC rankings reproduced by Wisden. South Africa and Pakistan both carry a displayed rating of 104, while Australia have dropped to fifth on 102 points.
South Africa stay third despite the identical displayed rating because their unrounded average is marginally higher, according to calculations published by The Sports Encounter from the ICC’s points and match totals. South Africa’s 3,547 ranking points from 34 weighted matches work out at about 104.324, compared with Pakistan’s 3,838 from 37 matches at about 103.730.
Pakistan were fifth with 100 rating points in the ICC’s October 15 snapshot, The Sports Encounter reported, and have since moved to fourth on 104. Wisden noted that the tri-series final itself added one rating point to Pakistan’s total, with the wider move across the October 15 to November 2 period driven by the tournament as a whole.
Pakistan’s defining result in that run was the tri-series final against Sri Lanka at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on October 31. Chasing 326, Pakistan slipped to 14 for two before Fakhar Zaman’s 127 off 99 balls turned the match, according to match reports. Saad Baig made 74 in a 149-run third-wicket stand with Fakhar, and Arafat Minhas struck 61 off 31 balls as Pakistan won by three wickets with nine balls remaining.
Afghanistan have climbed to sixth with 94 rating points, their highest-ever position in the format, ahead of Sri Lanka, who also have 94 but sit seventh, Ada Derana reported. England remain eighth on 93, followed by Bangladesh on 81 and the West Indies on 79.
Pakistan’s next challenge is turning a rankings recovery into sustained results, since the same Lahore campaign exposed the top-order failures that made their recoveries necessary. Fakhar’s century papered over another early collapse in the final, and the middle order will face sterner tests away from home before the World Cup.
What is confirmed is Pakistan’s fourth place, South Africa’s third on the unrounded calculation, and Afghanistan’s record sixth. What is not yet known is whether Pakistan can pass South Africa, since that depends on each side’s results before the next rankings update. The next known staging post is the 2027 World Cup itself, where Afghanistan will face Pakistan in Group A and South Africa will compete in Group B as tournament co-hosts, according to The Sports Encounter.
