Dec 22: Germany, Brazil and Portugal retained the top three places in the latest FIFA rankings released Thursday.
There was little movement in the FIFA charts with Argentina and Belgium completing the top five and 2018 World Cup hosts Russia placed 64th.
FIFA rankings as of December 22:
1. Germany
2. Brazil
3. Portugal
4. Argentina
5. Belgium
6. Spain
7. Poland
8. Switzerland
9. France
10. Chile
Hamilton, Feb 5: Talented Shreyas Iyer hit his maiden century while KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli carried on their fine form as India dished out a clinical batting effort to post 347 for four against New Zealand in the first ODI here on Wednesday.
Iyer showed why he is considered as the next big thing in Indian cricket, scoring 103 off 107 balls, his first ODI ton. Besides, Rahul continued his purple patch, smashing unbeaten 88 off 64 balls while Kohli made 51 off 63 deliveries.
Iyer's knock was laced with 11 fours and a six and together with Rahul shared 136 runs for the fourth wicket as India scored 96 runs in the last 10 overs after being sent into bat.
This was after Tom Blundell featured his maiden ODI for the Black Caps, while India gave debuts to two openers -- Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.
It was the fourth such instance in Indian history with Rahul-Karun Nair being the last such pair in 2016 against Zimbabwe.
Shaw and Agarwal got the innings off to quick start, adding 50 off 48 balls for the opening stand.
But both Shaw and Agarwal fell in the space of five balls as India were reduced to 54 for 2.
Shaw was the first to go, nicking behind a Colin de Grandhomme (1/41) delivery, while Agarwal was caught at point by Blundell off Southee (2/85).
It brought Kohli and Iyer together, and they dominated the middle overs with a 102-run stand for the third wicket. They manoeuvred the field well and kept the scorecard ticking as India crossed 150 in the 28th over.
Kohli fell against the run of play as a wrong one from Ish Sodhi (1/27) got through his defence to clip the leg stump.
Rahul though didn't let the innings lose any momentum as he smacked six sixes along with three fours.
But the day belonged to Iyer, who, despite a scratchy start, had crossed 50 off 66 balls. Once he passed the 50-run mark, the stylish right-hander batted fluently to notch up his first century in 16 ODIs.
The centurion fell shortly afterwards, caught off Southee even as Rahul took control.
He reached his half-century off 41 balls as India eased past 300 in the 47th over.
Rahul's carnage meant that New Zealand conceded 191 runs in the last 20 overs. Kedar Jadhav remained unbeaten on 26 off 15 balls, stitching 55 off 27 balls with Rahul.
Brief Scores:
India: 347 for 4 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 103, KL Rahul 88 not out, Virat Kohli 51; Tim Southee 2/85).
Melbourne, May 7: Australia opener Joe Burns is eyeing the Tests against India should they take place later this year, to stabilise his stop-start international career, saying "you want to play in and do well in" in this kind of series.
India is scheduled to play four Tests in Australia in December-January, a series which is currently in doubt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 2.5 lakh lives across the world.
"They are obviously world class team. I think the two teams going at each other will be very exciting to watch and players playing against each other as well," Burns told reporters in a video conference on Thursday.
"You look at the world ranking, they were number one and now we have got to number one, so I know that series will be anticipated by everyone and as a player this is a sort of series you want to play in and do well in."
With the coronavirus also threatening the T20 World Cup, Cricket Australia is under financial stress and has gone on a cost-cutting drive, which included standing down 80 per cent of its staff at 20 per cent salary.
There are also speculations that the Sheffield Shield for 2020-21 would be curtailed to cut costs.
Burns, however, hoped it won't be tinkered with.
"I love the fact we have a really strong first-class system. The 10 games, where you play everyone twice," Burns, who was struck down by a fatigue illness after an indifferent season, said.
"It leads to world-class players coming into Test teams. You don't want to see that get changed.
"Obviously it is unique circumstances at the moment and There's a lot of things to work through ... the players' association is consulted on those things."
New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.
Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.
Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.
"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.
In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.
The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.
"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.
"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.
Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.
The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.
Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.
At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.
His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.
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