It is said that the teams who enter the ODI World Cup as the no. 1 ranked team, are always the favourites to win the title. However, there are only a few times when a team justify their rankings and become the world champion. The rankings showcase the consistent excellence of certain cricketing nations over the years.
Entering the World Cup as the top-ranked team often comes with high expectations. However, as we look forward to the ODI World Cup, it will be interesting to see which team carried the top ranking and how they performed on the global stage earlier.
1987 – England
England in 1987 (Source – Twitter)
England entered the 1987 World Cup as the number-one ranked team. They even reached the finals but were defeated by Australia and ended as the runners-up while the Kangaroos lifted the coveted trophy for the first time.
1992 – Australia
Australia in 1992 (Source – Twitter)
Australia was the top-ranked team in the 1992 World Cup. However, they couldn’t justify their ranking by winning the tournament and were eliminated in the group stage only. Pakistan lifted the trophy in 1992.
