A look back - Kenya vs Zimbabwe 2006

[Kriterion_BD]

Zimbabwe did indeed pass 9th in the ODI rankings. The 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy in fact reflected this when Zimbabwe were seeded straight to the Quarterfinals while India, Sri Lanka, England, and the West Indies were forced to qualify first.

Also there were a few other occasions in the 90s when Zimbabwe were ranked ahead of India and England who were both pretty terrible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_ICC_KnockOut_Trophy

I dont think the ICC had rankings till 2002. Random seedings for the QF perhaps?

The seedings were established from results at the 1999 CWC.

Yeah thats what I was thinking.

[eugene]

That being said, ranking or not, in the late 90s Zimbabwe were clearly a better ODI team than India.

[AngusBeef]

Even without the ranking system being used back then, it is possible to backdate the rankings based on historical results which the ICC has done. It looks like we did slip into 8th briefly around 90-91, but I presume this as a result of Sri Lanka losing too many games as we didn't play between 87-92. I think the point where we are 16th around 2000 is where the rating system was possibly brought in.

Full rating points for those interested:

[Kriterion_BD]

That being said, ranking or not, in the late 90s Zimbabwe were clearly a better ODI team than India.

The win loss ratios from 98 to 01 has ZIM comfortably 9th. In fact India was 4th in that 3 year period.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ;type=team

They had some very good players in those days...Tendular and Ganguly opening, Dravid in the mix, Kumble, Srinath who is better than any Indian quick they have today.

So even in the height of the Flower bros and Streak, Zim were well behind the G8 sides. But they managed to hold 9th till at least 2007, possibly till 2009. Currently 11th, but 6 months ago had slipped to 12th!

[eugene]

That being said, ranking or not, in the late 90s Zimbabwe were clearly a better ODI team than India.

The win loss ratios from 98 to 01 has ZIM comfortably 9th. In fact India was 4th in that 3 year period.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ;type=team

They had some very good players in those days...Tendular and Ganguly opening, Dravid in the mix, Kumble, Srinath who is better than any Indian quick they have today.

So even in the height of the Flower bros and Streak, Zim were well behind the G8 sides. But they managed to hold 9th till at least 2007, possibly till 2009. Currently 11th, but 6 months ago had slipped to 12th!

1997 is the year I remember, Zimbabwe easily as good as India. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ;type=team

[CrimsonAvenger]

India (BCCI) has always snubbed non-competitive sides when it came to playing against them / inviting them stating that it is not good for the revenue etc. But up until 2002-2003, India regularly had home and away series vs Zim - 2 test series - home and away, 3 to 5 ODIs series. They also took part in a lot of triangular and quadrangulars at neutral venues. This is indication enough that the two teams were on equal terms in skill and quality. India wanted to play Zim. India was probably slightly better in longer format may be, but results of the ODI series were not forgone conclusions. Zim were almost always punching above their weight during that time and India were clearly under performing regularly. This was also the time when Srinath and Kumble were down with their injury issues for a season each. So, there was definitely a period between 1996-2001 when Zimbabwe got a lot of respect from BCCI and their players were loved by India fans too, for their resilience and grit especially when they pushed India to the brink on most occasions.

[Kriterion_BD]

1997 is the year I remember, Zimbabwe easily as good as India. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... ;type=team

Seems like a bit of an anomaly 1997 and half the 12 wins were against kenya and bangladesh.

Gee whiz, 4th that year in the win loss ratio is pretty decent and looks like the australians were really mediocre till the 1999 world cup. Sounds like the 1999 wc was also zim's finest hour...will have to look into that.

[Kriterion_BD]

India (BCCI) has always snubbed non-competitive sides when it came to playing against them / inviting them stating that it is not good for the revenue etc. But up until 2002-2003, India regularly had home and away series vs Zim - 2 test series - home and away, 3 to 5 ODIs series. They also took part in a lot of triangular and quadrangulars at neutral venues. This is indication enough that the two teams were on equal terms in skill and quality. India wanted to play Zim. India was probably slightly better in longer format may be, but results of the ODI series were not forgone conclusions. Zim were almost always punching above their weight during that time and India were clearly under performing regularly. This was also the time when Srinath and Kumble were down with their injury issues for a season each. So, there was definitely a period between 1996-2001 when Zimbabwe got a lot of respect from BCCI and their players were loved by India fans too, for their resilience and grit especially when they pushed India to the brink on most occasions.

Seems like the onbsession with money started some time after 2000.