Pakistan Overtake Australia in ICC ODI Rankings — Climb to Fourth After England Demolition

By Imran Javed, Sports Desk | Updated: October 21, 2026

Pakistan have climbed to fourth place in the ICC Men’s ODI team rankings, overtaking Australia, after back-to-back victories over Sri Lanka and England in the ongoing ODI tri-series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Pakistan now sit on 103 rating points, just one point behind third-placed South Africa (104), with India leading the table on 115 and New Zealand second on 109.

The rankings jump was sealed on Tuesday night, when Pakistan registered an emphatic 87-run victory over England — a performance built on a stunning all-round display by 21-year-old Arafat Minhas, who scored 59 off 58 balls and then ripped through England with career-best figures of 6 for 40. It is the kind of night that changes where a team sits in the world order, and Pakistan’s players knew it: the celebrations at Rawalpindi, as England’s last wicket fell, had the unmistakable feel of a team that understood exactly what the win meant beyond the tri-series table.

How Pakistan climbed past Australia

The ICC rankings are calculated on a rolling results basis, and Pakistan’s surge comes from winning when it mattered most. The consecutive tri-series wins — first against Sri Lanka, then the dismantling of England — pushed Pakistan past an Australia side that has been idle, dropping the five-time world champions to fifth.

The full picture at the top of the latest ICC Men’s ODI rankings:

One rating point. That is the gap between Pakistan and the top three. Another win in the tri-series — and particularly a strong finish — could see Pakistan leapfrog South Africa and equal the team’s best recent standing in the format. For a side that has spent the last year rebuilding around young talent, the trajectory is unmistakable.

The night that did it: Pakistan 302-9 beats England 215

Rawalpindi witnessed a genuine contest that turned into a statement. Pakistan, asked to bat first, wobbled badly at 81 for 4 — the kind of collapse that has haunted this team in the past. What followed was a recovery built on composure rather than panic.

Hasan Nawaz top-scored with a fluent 79 off 74 balls, Arafat Minhas added 59 off 58, Faheem Ashraf provided a late flourish with a quickfire 39 off 26, and Saad Baig chipped in a valuable 35. Pakistan finished on a competitive 302 for 9.

England’s chase never truly ignited. Tom Banton made 57 and Ben Duckett 45, but Minhas was everywhere: he removed Will Jacks and Adil Rashid in successive deliveries, ran out Gus Atkinson, and finished with 6 for 40 — the best figures of his young career — as England were bowled out for 215, falling 87 runs short of their 303 target.

Minhas: the 21-year-old driving the rise

Every rankings climb has a face, and right now Pakistan’s is Arafat Minhas. A half-century under pressure followed by a six-wicket haul in the same match is the kind of all-round performance that defines careers — and the 21-year-old is delivering it on the biggest domestic stage in Pakistani cricket, in front of a home crowd, against England.

His emergence also answers the question every Pakistan fan has been asking: where does the next generation come from? With the senior core transitioning and captain Shaheen Afridi leading a side increasingly built around youth, performances like Minhas’ are not just match-winning — they are program-defining. The selectors backed the youngster; the youngster is paying them back in rating points.

What fourth place actually means

Rankings are not trophies, and every Pakistan supporter old enough to remember past false dawns will say so. But they matter in three concrete ways. First, they shape seedings and scheduling for ICC events — being fourth rather than fifth changes who you face and when. Second, they are a morale instrument: young players walk taller when the table says they belong near the top. Third, they are a signal to the cricketing world that Pakistan’s ODI rebuild, after the turbulence of recent years, is producing results rather than promises.

The immediate target is obvious: South Africa, one point away. Pakistan’s remaining tri-series fixtures are effectively a playoff for third place in the world. Win them, and Pakistan goes into the next ICC cycle as a top-three ODI side — a sentence that would have sounded optimistic just months ago.

For more on Pakistan’s sporting week, read about the first-ever Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis event in Islamabad and Pakistan’s 6-2 demolition of Canada at the Sultan of Johor Cup.

Fourth in the world, one point off third, and a 21-year-old announcing himself on the biggest stage: Pakistan’s ODI project is no longer a plan on paper. The rankings table now says what the Rawalpindi crowd already knew on Tuesday night — this team is climbing, and Australia are the ones looking up at them.