Sri Lanka start season as number-one ranked T20I side

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA – OCTOBER 07: West Indies team with the trophy after winning the ICC World Twenty20 2012 Final between Sri Lanka and the West Indies at R. Premadasa Stadium on October 7, 2012 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand will launch what will be an interesting couple of months of Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) when the two sides go head to head in a one-off match at Pallekele on Tuesday 30 October.

As many as seven T20Is, featuring most of the top ranked sides, are confirmed to be played across the globe before the turn of the year, and, if Sri Lanka loses in Pallekele, then there can be a change at the top of the table on at least two occasions.

Sri Lanka, the ICC World Twenty20 2012 finalist, will start off as the number-one ranked side on the Reliance ICC T20I Championship table while New Zealand, which lost two ICC World Twenty20 2012 Super Eight stage matches in Super Overs, will begin in eighth position.

While a win will ensure that Sri Lanka will end the year as the number-one ranked T20I side, a defeat for Sri Lanka will give ICC World Twenty20 champion West Indies a sniff of the number-one position on the Reliance ICC Championship table for the first time since the launch of the current rankings system in October 2011.

In the scenario of Sri Lanka losing to New Zealand, Angelo Mathews’ side will drop six ratings points and will join Darren Sammy’s side on 121 ratings points, which means that if the West Indies beats Bangladesh on 10 December in Dhaka, then the men from the Caribbean will add the number-one ranking to their ICC World T20 title.

This may, however, turn out to be a brief stay on top of the ladder as India will leapfrog the West Indies if it defeats England in the T20Is in Pune and Mumbai on 20 and 22 December.

If India beats England 2-0, then Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side will earn seven ratings points to move to 127 ratings points and will move five points clear of the West Indies. A one-all result will mean both India and England will retain pre-series ratings points and ratings, and will also allow the West Indies to extend its stay at the top of the table.

To find out exactly how the forthcoming T20Is will affect the Championship table, please click here. The T20I Championship table, unlike the Test Championship table, is updated after every match.

Upcoming fixtures

Sri Lanka v New Zealand

30 Oct – One-off T20I, Pallekele

Bangladesh v West Indies

10 Dec – One-off T20I, Dhaka

India v England

20 Dec – 1st T20I, Pune

22 Dec – 2nd T20I, Mumbai

South Africa v New Zealand

21 Dec – 1^st T20I, Durban

23 Dec – 2^nd T20I, East London

26 Dec –3^rd T20I, Port Elizabeth

Reliance ICC T20I Championship

Rank Team Rating

1 Sri Lanka 127

2 West Indies 121

3 India 120

4 England 118

5 South Africa 117

6 Pakistan 116

7 Australia 108

8 New Zealand 97

9 Bangladesh 85

10 Ireland 82

11 Zimbabwe 44

Not ranked as fewer than eight T20I matches played since August 2012

Afghanistan 76

Netherlands 73

Scotland 67

Canada 11

Kenya 2

(Developed by David Kendix)

Reliance ICC T20 Player Rankings

Batsmen

Rank Player Team Pts Ave S/R HS Ranking

1 B McCullum NZ 830 36.77 135 849 v Ban at Pallekele 2012

2 Chris Gayle WI 810 37.65 145 831 v Aus at Colombo (RPS) 2012

3 Shane Watson Aus 799 30.62 148 832 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2012

4 M Jayawardena SL 775 32.21 134 785 v Aus at Pallekele 2011

5 Suresh Raina Ind 741 33.39 136 776 v Eng at Kolkata 2011

6 David Warner Aus 714 27.04 139 826 v WI at St Lucia 2010

7 Eoin Morgan Eng 712 36.09 132 872 v Ind at Old Trafford 2011

8 Kevin Pietersen Eng 709 37.93 142 882 v Aus at Barbados 2010

9 T Dilshan SL 699 28.84 124 802 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009

10 K Sangakkara SL 687 30.00 121 763 v WI at Barbados 2010

11= Virat Kohli Ind 686* 38.58 129 714 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2012

Martin Guptill NZ 686 30.79 122 793 v SA at Hamilton 2012

13 JP Duminy SA 668 32.82 122 694 v Eng at Durham 2012

14 H Masakadza Zim 629* 26.59 117 652 v SL at Hambantota 2012

15 Jacques Kallis SA 624 35.05 119 738 v Eng at Durham 2012

16 Umar Akmal Pak 610 27.96 118 709 v Zim at Harare 2011

17 G Gambhir Ind 600 27.83 121 723 v SL at Mohali 2009

18 Yuvraj Singh Ind 593 30.31 145 793 v SA at St Lucia 2010

19 Marlon Samuels WI 584*! 27.72 130 584 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2012

20 Graeme Smith SA 570 31.67 128 778 v Zim at Kimberley 2010

Bowlers

Rank Player Team Pts Ave Econ HS Ranking

1 Saeed Ajmal Pak 770 15.82 6.13 788 v NZ at Pallekele 2012

2 Ajantha Mendis SL 762! 10.76 5.74 762 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2012

3 Graeme Swann Eng 750 16.84 6.36 760 v Pak at Cardiff 2010

4 N McCullum NZ 690 17.52 6.47 709 v Zim at Harare 2011

5 Johan Botha SA 674 22.24 6.37 733 v NZ at Auckland 2012

6 Shane Watson Aus 665 20.42 7.19 671 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2012

7 Shahid Afridi Pak 656 21.16 6.22 814 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009

8 M Hafeez Pak 655 22.71 6.71 662 v Eng at Dubai 2012

9 Abdur Razzak Ban 654 17.02 6.69 661 v Ire at Belfast 2012

10 Dale Steyn SA 652 17.18 6.36 688 v WI at Antigua 2010

11 N Kulasekara SL 648 27.13 7.44 658 v Pak at Colombo (RPS) 2012

12 Lasith Malinga SL 640 21.35 7.48 680 v Eng at Bristol 2011

13= Shakib Al Hasan Ban 638 22.70 6.88 658 v Ire at Belfast 2012

Sunil Narine WI 638*! 16.68 5.97 638 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2012

15 Daniel Vettori NZ 632 19.45 5.61 850 v Aus at Wellington 2010

16 Morne Morkel SA 631 17.84 6.72 646 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

17 Stuart Broad Eng 625 23.18 7.34 672 v Pak at Cardiff 2010

18= Tim Southee NZ 623 25.47 8.41 628 v Pak at Pallekele 2012

Angelo Mathews SL 623! 24.04 6.63 623 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2012

20 Trent Johnston Ire 610 19.86 6.26 633 v Ban at Belfast 2012

All-rounders

Rank Player Team Pts HS Ranking

1 Shane Watson Aus 531 557 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2012

2 M Hafeez Pak 350 353 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2012

3 Shahid Afridi Pak 294 413 v NZ at Dubai 2009

4 Shakb Al Hasan Ban 270*/ ! 270 v Pak at Pallekele 2012

5 Chris Gayle WI 266/* 290 v Ind at Barbados 2010

6 David Hussey Aus 241/* 350 v Ind at Melbourne 2012

7 Dwayne Bravo WI 238! 238 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2012

8 Jacques Kallis SA 234 /* 249 v Zim at Hambantota 2012

9= Marlon Samuels WI 229*/*! 229 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2012

Angelo Mathews SL 229*/ ! 229 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2012

For more information go to www.relianceiccrankings.com