Sri Lanka must win one match to retain No. 1 T20I ranking

Tuesday, 19 November 2013 01:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka goes head to head with New Zealand in a two-match Twenty20 International series needing to win, at least, one match to retain its top position on the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings Table. Sri Lanka, currently ranked number one with 128 ratings, needs to win one of the two matches in the series against New Zealand to retain the top spot. Sri Lanka enters the series leading seventh-ranked New Zealand by 25 ratings points. Because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, Sri Lanka’s failure to win both the matches will result in it losing as many as eight points, which means either India, South Africa or Pakistan could become the number-one ranked side, depending on how the series between South Africa and Pakistan pans out. However, if Sri Lanka wins a match in the series, it will retain the number-one ranking and will increase the lead if it makes it two out of two against the Blackcaps.

In the scenario of New Zealand beating Sri Lanka 2-0, either South Africa or Pakistan will need to make a clean sweep to claim the top spot from Sri Lanka. However, if South Africa and Pakistan end up with a 1-1 deadlock, then India will move to the top of the tree. South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has made it to the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen for the first time in his career. Meanwhile Du Plessis has jumped 16 places to a career-high 12th position in the latest update that was released on Saturday, a day after he led his side to a 2-0 series win over Pakistan in Dubai. South Africa beat Pakistan by six runs to seal the 2-0 series sweep on Friday, with du Plessis being named Man of the Match for his unbeaten knock of 58. The latest rankings update also takes into account the one-off Bangladesh-New Zealand match on 6 November. Outside the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen, Ross Taylor in 35th (up by two), Hashim Amla in 55th (up by 22), Mushfiqur Rahim in 63rd (up by 18) and Nasir Hossain in 67th (up by seven) and Quinton de Kock in 75th (up by 92). The Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen is still headed by England’s Alex Hales with New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum in second spot and India’s Virat Kohli in third place. South Africa fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe are back in the top 20 of the latest Reliance ICC Player Ranking for T20I bowlers. Steyn with five wickets ended as the top wicket-taker in the series and has been rewarded with a jump of 10 places to 11th. Tsotsobe, on the other hand, has jumped 16 places to 15th. The bowlers’ table is still headed by West Indies’ Sunil Narine, with Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal in third place. Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez has ceded the third place to Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka and moved to fourth place.