New Delhi: Virat Kohli is at the second position and the only Indian batsman in the top 10 of ICC T20 rankings for batsmen as India enter the ICC T20 World Cup aiming to become the first team to lift the silverware in front of home crowd. Meanwhile, Aaron Finch, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shane Watson will start as highest-ranked batsman, bowler and all-rounder, respectively.
Kohli is followed by Rohit Sharma (11th), Suresh Raina (16th), Yuvraj Singh (22nd), Dhoni (43rd) and Shikhar Dhawan at 48th spot.
In the absence of Sunil Narine, second-ranked Ravichandran Ashwin will start as the highest-ranked bowler while Ravindra Jadeja is 11th, Jasprit Bumrah is 27thand Yuvraj is 43rd. Yuvraj is also India’s highest-ranked all-rounder in sixth position.
West Indies’ charge will once again be led by Chris Gayle, who is occupying the seventh position. The other top-ranked West Indies batsmen are Marlon Samuels (19th), Dwayne Bravo (32nd) and Dwayne Smith (50th), while 49th-ranked Bravo is its highest-ranked bowler. Captain Darren Sammy is 74th in the batting table, 62nd in the bowlers’ category and 25th in the all-rounders’ list.
South Africa, which is searching for its first ICC major since winning the ICC Champions Trophy 1998 (then called ICC Knock-Out), has all the ammunition it needs to go the full distance. Since the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014, it has won 10 out of 16 matches. It boasts as many as six batsmen inside the top 50, led by captain Faf du Plessis in third, JP Duminy in 15th, Hashim Amla in 21st, Quinton de Kock in 24th, David Miller in 28th and AB de Villiers in 34th. Its bowlers also feature prominently in the list with Imran Tahir in third, David Wiese in eighth, Kyle Abbott in 12th, Kagiso Rabada in 30th and Dale Steyn in 45th.
Australia will be aiming to complete a Career Grand Slam by winning the missing ICC World Twenty20 India 2016. And though it has lost more than 50 per cent of matches it has played since the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 (played 10, won four, lost six to date), it remains a force to be reckoned with in this format. Australia’s Aaron Finch will start as the number-one ranked batsman, while its other top batsmen are David Warner (ninth), Shane Watson (13th) and Glenn Maxwell (31st). Its highest-ranked bowlers are Watson and Maxwell, who share 35th spot, while James Faulkner is 37th. Watson will start the tournament as world’s best all-rounder with Maxwell in seventh position.
Sides featuring in the first-round matches from 8-13 March in Dharamsala and Nagpur include a number of players who feature in the top 50.
Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza is the highest-ranked batsman in eighth position. He is followed by Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad (12th), Sabbir Rahman of Bangladesh (20th), Zimbabwe’s Malcolm Waller (23rd), Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh (25th), the Netherlands duo of Stephan Myburgh and Wesley Barresi in 27th and 36th respectively, Kyle Coetzer of Scotland (37th), Paul Stirling of Ireland (38th), Hong Kong’s Babar Hayat (39th), Ireland captain William Porterfield (40th), Richard Berrington of Scotland (42nd), the Netherlands captain Peter Borren (45th) and Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura (47th).
In the absence of Zimbabwe’s fifth-ranked Graeme Creamer, Afghanistan’s seventh-ranked Dawlat Zadran is the highest-ranked bowler from the eight sides. He is followed by the Bangladesh pair of Shakib (ninth) and Al-Amin Hossain (15th), Mudassar Bukhari of Netherlands (17th), George Dockrell of Ireland (20th), Mohammad Nabi of Afghanistan (21st), 28th-ranked Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh, Timm van der Gugten of the Netherlands (29th), Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien (32nd), Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza (33rd), Hong Kong’s Nadeem Ahmad (39th), Hamza Hotak of Afghanistan (41st) and Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams (46th).
Bangladesh’s Shakib trails number-one ranked Watson by just one point in the all-rounders’ category, while Afghanistan’s Nabi is just outside the top 10 in 11th position.
MRF Tyres ICC T20I Player Rankings (as on 7 March, after the Asia Cup final and second T20I between South Africa and Australia)
Batsmen (top 25)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge S/Rate HS Rating
1 ( - ) Aaron Finch Aus 858 39.82 153 892 v Ban at Mirpur 2014
2 ( - ) Virat Kohli Ind 834 52.61 133 897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014
3 (+1) Faf du Plessis SA 797 41.29 136 843 v Ban at Mirpur 2015
4 (-1) Alex Hales Eng 786 33.94 135 866 v Ind at Edgbaston 2014
5 ( - ) Martin Guptill NZ 741 34.70 130 793 v SA at Hamilton 2012
6 ( - ) Kane Williamson NZ 733 36.69 128 737 v Pak at Hamilton 2016
7 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 703 35.15 143 831 v Aus at Colombo (RPS) 2012
8 ( - ) H. Masakadza Zim 699! 31.42 120 699 v Ban at Khulna 2016
9 (+8) David Warner Aus 669 29.47 141 826 v WI at St Lucia 2010
10 ( - ) Eoin Morgan Eng 666 30.29 133 872 v Ind at Old Trafford 2011
11 (+5) Rohit Sharma Ind 653 32.54 129 681 v Ban at Mirpur 2016
12 (-3) M. Shahzad Afg 649 29.35 136 681 v Zim at Sharjah 2016
13 (-4) Shane Watson Aus 639 28.17 145 832 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2012
14 (+3) T. Dilshan SL 634 28.24 120 802 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009
15 (-3) JP Duminy SA 624 36.51 122 713 v NZ at Chittagong 2014
16 (-5) Suresh Raina Ind 619 31.40 133 776 v Eng at Kolkata 2011
17 (+1) Umar Akmal Pak 606 27.30 123 709 v Zim at Harare 2011
18 (-4) Kusal Perera SL 589* 27.09 133 751 v SA at Chittagong 2014
19 ( - ) Marlon Samuels WI 582 28.84 122 723 v Ban at Mirpur 2012
20 (+44) Sabbir Rahman Ban 574*! 32.64 119 574 v Ind at Mirpur 2016
21 (+2) Hashim Amla SA 567 27.27 126 611 v Ind at Mirpur 2014
22 (-1) Yuvraj Singh Ind 566 30.91 139 793 v SA at St Lucia 2010
23 ( - ) Malcolm Waller Zim 545*! 29.18 154 545 v Ban at Khulna 2016
24 (+4) Quinton de Kock SA 544* 28.20 123 573 v Ban at Mirpur 2015
25 (-3) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 543 23.19 122 618 v Pak at Mirpur 2015
Bowlers (top 25)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Avge Eco. HS Rating Ranking
1 ( - ) Sunil Narine WI 773 17.75 5.69 817 v Pak at St. Vincent 2013
2 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 740 21.56 6.84 765 v SL at Visakhapatnam 2016
3 (+4) Imran Tahir SA 712 15.42 6.58 729 v Aus at Durban 2016
4 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 673 24.11 6.57 814 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009
5 ( - ) Graeme Cremer Zim 669! 16.59 6.72 669 v Ban at Khulna 2016
6 ( - ) M. McClenaghan NZ 643! 25.80 7.68 643 v Pak at Wellington 2016
7 (+1) Dawlat Zadran Afg 633 19.33 7.25 636 v Zim at Sharjah 2016
8 (+21) David Wiese SA 626*! 17.39 7.36 626 v Aus at Johannesburg 2016
9 (+1) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 625 21.01 6.68 672 v Pak at Mirpur 2014
10 (-7) S. Senanayake SL 623 19.33 6.35 712 v Eng at The Oval 2014
11 (-2) Ravindra Jadeja Ind 622 30.24 7.02 651 v Pak at Mirpur 2016
12 (+14) Kyle Abbott SA 615* 24.00 7.83 628 v Aus at Durban 2016
13= (+2) N. Kulasekara SL 613 22.18 7.16 676 v Aus at Melbourne 2013
( - ) Adam Milne NZ 613*! 20.83 7.35 613 v Pak at Wellington 2016
15 (+17) Al-Amin Hossain Ban 612*! 14.09 7.12 612 v Ind at Mirpur 2016
16 (-5) Mitchell Starc Aus 596 19.53 6.72 702 v Pak at Dubai 2014
17 (-3) M. Bukhari Net 593 17.30 6.62 616 v NEP at Amstelveen 2015
18 (-6) Lasith Malinga SL 582 20.28 7.26 684 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015
19 (-2) N. McCullum NZ 580 22.85 6.90 709 v Zim at Harare 2011
20 (-5) George Dockrell Ire 578 16.02 6.31 668 v Zim at Sylhet 2014
21 (-2) Mohammad Nabi Afg 575! 27.48 7.07 575 v HK at Mirpur 2016
22 (-2) Ahsan Jamil Net 564 14.65 7.33 616 v NEP at Rotterdam 2015
23 (+104) M. Naveed UAE 557*! 16.00 5.77 557 v Ind at Mirpur 2016
24 (-6) Pat Cummins Aus 551* 18.80 6.69 610 v Eng at Cardiff 2015
25 (+2) Angelo Mathews SL 550 27.60 6.64 645 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2013
All-rounders (top 10)
Rank (+/-) Player Team Pts Highest Ranking
1 ( - ) Shane Watson Aus 340 557 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2012
2 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 339 408 v Pak at Mirpur 2015
3 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 319 413 v NZ at Dubai 2009
4 ( - ) M. Hafeez Pak 285 441 v SL at Dubai 2013
5 ( - ) Marlon Samuels WI 282 321 v SL at Mirpur 2014
6 (+1) Yuvraj Singh Ind 279 363 v Aus at Rajkot 2013
7 (+6) Glenn Maxwell Aus 276*/*! 276 v SA at Johannesburg 2016
8 ( - ) Angelo Mathews SL 255 289 v NZ at New Plymouth 2016
9 ( - ) Dwayne Bravo WI 247 255 v NZ at Auckland 2014
10 (-4) JP Duminy SA 245 /* 276 v Ban at Mirpur 2015
