On Saturday, October 24, Afghanistan surpassed England in the most recent ICC ODI team rankings. Afghanistan has moved up one spot to No. 7, matching their highest ranking ever, which was originally attained in May 2025. Afghanistan is in seventh place with 94 rating points, while England, the 2019 World Cup winners, are in eighth place with 93 points. With 95 points, Sri Lanka is currently in sixth place.
Afghanistan bowled Zimbabwe out for 169 in the tri-series final, which took place in Sharjah. Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mohammad Nabi, and Bilal Sami each took two wickets, while Rashid Khan spearheaded the assault with three wickets. Ibrahim Zadran’s unbeaten 70 off 96 balls in response, which included four fours and a six, underpinned the chase.
He scored 68 runs with opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who scored 36, and then 82 runs for the third wicket with skipper Rahmat Shah, who scored 43. In the 35th over, Afghanistan secured the series by reaching the 170-run objective. Rashid won player of the series after collecting 11 wickets during the event, while Zadran was awarded player of the match.
| Position | Team | Matches | Points | Rating |
| 1 | India | 36 | 4122 | 115 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 35 | 3809 | 109 |
| 3 | South Africa | 34 | 3547 | 104 |
| 4 | Pakistan | 34 | 3505 | 103 |
| 5 | Australia | 35 | 3568 | 102 |
| 6 | Sri Lanka | 41 | 3896 | 95 |
| 7 | Afghanistan | 31 | 2926 | 94 |
| 8 | England | 36 | 3331 | 93 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 41 | 3304 | 81 |
| 10 | West Indies | 37 | 2924 | 79 |
Afghanistan achieved this historic milestone after winning the tri-series on Friday, October 23, by defeating Zimbabwe by seven wickets. In the meantime, England’s ODI performance has suffered recently. They failed to defend a massive 430-run goal against Sri Lanka in their most recent match, which went down as the second-highest successful run chase in ODI cricket history. As a result, they suffered a forgettable defeat.
Afghanistan swept out Zimbabwe for 169 when they bowled first. With 68 off 83 balls, captain Sikandar Raza led Zimbabwe in scoring with three fours and three sixes. Rashid Khan claimed the most wickets for Afghanistan in the innings with three. Ibrahim Zadran led Afghanistan in scoring with an undefeated 70 off 96 balls as they chased down the goal in 34.3 overs. Afghanistan won thanks to Rahmat Shah’s 43 off 63 balls.
