The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the annual update of the Twenty20 international (T20I) ratings with England climbing to second spot and and India sliding a couple of positions to be ranked fourth.
England, the 2016 World T20 runners-up, have become the biggest beneficiaries of the annual update, jumping three places - from fifth to second - and now sit behind table-toppers New Zealand, by just four points. While the Kane Williamson-led team are sitting pretty with 125 rating points, Eoin Morgan's men have 121.
Pakistan is the other team which has gained from the annual exercise. With the added five points, Pakistan are now equal with England on 121, only behind them in the third place due to decimal considerations.
While England and Pakistan have had reasons to rejoice, there was bad news for the inaugural World T20 champions India. The Virat Kohli-led side dropped six points and have now slipped to the fourth position - with 118 points. South Africa is the other team to have lost ground, dropping six points and now placed fifth, just one point ahead of sixth-placed Australia's tally of 110. The 2016 World T20 champions - West Indies - have also lost ground and they are now placed seventh, with 109 points.
Amongst the associate nations, Afghanistan is the team that has benefited the most from the annual upgrade, strengthening its ninth position. With 90 points, they are just five behind eighth-placed Sri Lanka while Bangladesh complete the top-10, with 78 points. Netherlands dropped nine points and are now in the 14th position while Ireland also lost four points to slip to the 18th rank.
The annual update, released on May 1, is a reflection of the team's form over the course of the season as well as the current form of the team in that particular format of the game.
The next World T20 is scheduled to be held in 2020, in Australia, and the top nine countries along with the hosts will make the cut for a direct entry into the tournament. The 2020 edition of the tournament will be a 16-team affair with the last six spots to be decided between the bottom eight - teams ranked from 11 to 18 - who will join the regional qualifiers in the ICC World T20 Qualifier, scheduled to be held in 2019.
The cut-off date for automatic qualification to the mega event is 31 December 2018.
