Sharjah, 28 December - The Afghanistan cricket team cruised into the top 10 in the International Cricket Council One-Day International (ODI) rankings for the first time after a thumping 49-run win in their first match against Zimbabwe here.
The key architects of the win were opener Noor Ali Zadran and left-arm spinner Amir Hamza, who made 63 and took four wickets, respectively, as Afghanistan successfully defended the lowest total - 131 - for an associate against a full member, espncricinfo reported on Sunday.
Afghanistan will have an opportunity to remain at the tenth position should they win the five-match series against Zimbabwe. A series loss, however, means they will return to their original World no.12 ranking, behind Zimbabwe and Ireland.
The year 2015 has been a watershed year of sorts for Afghanistan, who made their maiden World Cup appearance in Australia in February-March, where they beat Scotland by one wicket.
They built on that success by registering their first bilateral series win over a Test nation when they beat Zimbabwe 3-2 in a five-match series in Bulawayo in October. Interestingly, they came back from one match down to win the series, which made them the first associate to topple a full member in a bilateral series.
ICC ODI Rankings
1 Australia
2 India
3 South Africa
4 New Zealand
5 Sri Lanka
6 England 56
7 Bangladesh
8 Pakistan
9 West Indies
10 Afghanistan
11 Ireland
12 Zimbabwe