England and India play the first match of their upcoming series in Nottingham on Tuesday, in what will kick off a month-long extravaganza of One Day Internationals featuring 10 sides, spread across four continents.
Coming on the back of a well-contested Twenty20 International series, which India won 2-1, the top two sides in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Men’s Team Rankings present some interesting prospects in the three-match series a year ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 to be hosted by England and Wales from 30 May to 14 July.
India, who had conceded the top ranking to England at the annual update on 2 May, get a chance of claiming back the spot, but for that, they will have to blank their adversaries 3-0. England on the other hand will run up a lead of 10 points at the top of the table if they win by the same margin.
The possibility of a change at the top though is not the only matter of interest in upcoming matches since seven of the 10 teams playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will be on view during this period until 12 August.
Apart from the England-India series ending on 17 July, Zimbabwe will host Pakistan for five matches from 13 to 22 July, the West Indies will play three at home versus Bangladesh from 22 to 28 July, Sri Lanka will host South Africa for five matches from 29 July to 12 August and the Netherlands play two at home against Nepal.
Fifth-placed Pakistan will have to win the series against Zimbabwe by a margin of 4-1 in order to ensure they do not slip behind sixth-placed Australia, while 10th-ranked Zimbabwe will have to pull off a 4-1 win over Pakistan in order to leapfrog Afghanistan and move up one spot in the rankings table.
Similarly, third-ranked South Africa face the challenge of blanking Sri Lanka 5-0 in an away series to ensure they do not slip behind New Zealand even as mid-table sides Bangladesh (seventh), Sri Lanka (eighth) and the West Indies (ninth) will be vying for important points during this period.
Nepal will debut in ODIs when they play two matches against the Netherlands on 1 and 3 August while the Netherlands will be turning out in ODIs for the first time since losing ODI status in 2014 at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand. Nepal gained ODI status at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe earlier this year while the Netherlands regained it had earlier by winning the ICC World Cricket League Championship.
The players of these two nations will be hoping to make impressive entries in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings, which could see a number of changes when the rankings are next updated on 13 August after 18 matches featuring many of the top players around the world.
India captain Virat Kohli leads the rankings for batsmen with a career-high rating of 909 points, a good 96 points ahead of Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who will be hoping to get back into the groove after missing the recent tri-series in Zimbabwe due to injury.
Fourth-ranked Rohit Sharma of India will be looking to continue his T20I form in the ODIs, sixth-ranked Joe Root of England has a good chance of overtaking Ross Taylor, while the South Africa pair of Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis as well as India’s left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan are the other players likely to be seen in action.
In the bowlers’ list, top-ranked Jasprit Bumrah’s finger injury, due to which he will miss the series, gives others a chance to close the gap, and third-ranked Hasan Ali of Pakistan would be eyeing a return to the top spot. Leg-spinners Adil Rashid of England and Yuzvendra Chahal of India are other top 10 players who will be seen in upcoming matches.
Upcoming series:
England v India
12 July – 1st ODI , Trent Bridge, Nottingham
14 July – 2nd ODI, Lord’s, London
17 July – 3rd ODI, Headingley, Leeds
Zimbabwe v Pakistan
13 July – 1st ODI, Bulawayo
16 July – 2nd ODI, Bulawayo
18 July, 3rd ODI, Bulawayo
20 July, 4th ODI, Bulawayo
22 July, 5th ODI, Bulawayo
West Indies v Bangladesh
22 July – 1st ODI, Guyana
25 July – 2nd ODI, Guyana
28 July – 3rd ODI, St Kitts
Sri Lanka v South Africa
29 July – 1st ODI, Dambulla
1 Aug – 2nd ODI, Dambulla
5 Aug – 3rd ODI, Kandy
8 Aug – 4th ODI, Kandy
12 Aug – 5th ODI, Colombo
Netherlands v Nepal
1 Aug – 1st ODI, VRA, Amsterdam
3 Aug – 2nd ODI, VRA, Amsterdam
The ODI team rankings, unlike the Test rankings, are updated after each match.
MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings (as of 10 July):
Rank Team Points
1 England 126
2 India 122
3 South Africa 113
4 New Zealand 112
5 Pakistan 102
6 Australia 100
7 Bangladesh 93
8 Sri Lanka 77
9 Windies 69
10 Afghanistan 63
11 Zimbabwe 55
12 Ireland 38
13 Scotland 28
14 UAE 18
*Nepal and the Netherlands will qualify for a full ranking after playing four more matches each
MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings (as of 10 July):
Batsmen (top 20)
Rank Player Team Pts Avge Highest Rating
1 Virat Kohli Ind 909! 58.10 909 v SA at Centurion 2018
2 Babar Azam Pak 813 51.11 846 v NZ at Wellington 2018
3 David Warner Aus 803 43.43 880 v Pak at Adelaide 2017
4 Rohit Sharma Ind 799 44.55 825 v SL at Mohali 2017
5 Ross Taylor NZ 785 46.28 789 v Eng at Dunedin 2018
6 Joe Root Eng 784 49.82 819 v Aus at Brisbane 2018
7 Quinton de Kock SA 783 45.41 808 v Ban at East London 2017
8 Faf du Plessis SA 782 44.68 802 v Ind at Durban 2018
9 Kane Williamson NZ 778 46.87 798 v SA at Centurion 2015
10 Shikhar Dhawan Ind 769 45.90 794 v SA at Melbourne 2015
11 Jonny Bairstow Eng 760 51.55 777 v Aus at Durham 2018
12 Hashim Amla SA 746 50.23 901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012
13 Martin Guptill NZ 731 42.99 789 v SA at Hamilton 2017
14 MS Dhoni Ind 717 51.37 836 v Aus at Delhi 2009
15 Aaron Finch Aus 706 38.19 744 v Eng at Melbourne 2015
16 Jos Buttler Eng 705 40.67 723 v Ban at Mirpur 2016
17 Tamim Iqbal Ban 698 34.98 721 v Zim at Mirpur 2018
18 Steve Smith Aus 675 41.84 752 v Pak at Sydney 2017
19 Travis Head Aus 670*! 37.00 670 v Eng at Old Trafford 2018
20 Jason Roy Eng 666 39.06 680 v Aus at Durham 2018
Bowlers (top 20)
Rank Player Team Pts Avge Eco Highest Rating
1 Jasprit Bumrah Ind 787*! 22.50 4.64 787 v SA at Centurion 2018
2 Rashid Khan Afg 763* 14.40 3.96 787 v Zim at Sharjah 2018
3 Hasan Ali Pak 711* 21.40 5.29 766 v NZ at Wellington 2018
4 Trent Boult NZ 699 24.63 5.09 766 v Ind at Delhi 2016
5 Josh Hazlewood Aus 696 24.27 4.72 733 v Eng at Adelaide 2018
6 Imran Tahir SA 683 24.81 4.68 786 v SL at Johannesburg 2017
7 Kagiso Rabada SA 679 27.57 5.11 724 v Eng at Lord's 2017
8 Adil Rashid Eng 667 31.14 5.55 677 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2018
9 Y. Chahal Ind 667*! 21.83 4.76 667 v SA at Centurion 2018
10 Chris Woakes Eng 653 30.77 5.50 673 v NZ at Christchurch 2018
11 Mitchell Starc Aus 642 20.95 4.93 783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015
12 Mitchell Santner NZ 632 33.91 4.90 663 v Eng at Hamilton 2018
13 Moeen Ali Eng 629! 44.26 5.08 629 v Aus at Old Trafford 2018
14 Kuldeep Yadav Ind 628* 20.02 4.80 637 v SA at Port Elizabeth 2018
15 Akshar Patel Ind 624* 31.31 4.43 663 v Aus at Nagpur 2017
16 Mohammad Nabi Afg 611 31.95 4.29 653 v Zim at Harare 2017
17 Pat Cummins Aus 607 28.45 5.38 626 v Eng at Adelaide 2018
18 Matt Henry NZ 606 24.59 5.57 675 v Aus at Hamilton 2016
19 M. Rahman Ban 601* 19.19 4.63 602 v Zim at Mirpur 2018
20 Tim Murtagh Ire 597 33.16 4.53 613 v Zim at Harare 2018
All-rounders (top five)
Rank Player Team Pts Highest Rating
1 S. Al Hasan Ban 359 453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009
2 M. Hafeez Pak 339 438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013
3 M. Nabi Afg 323 349 v Ire at Greater Noida 2017
4 Mitchell Santner NZ 317 317 v Eng at Christchurch 2018
5 Angelo Mathews SL 306 427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014
Moeen Ali Eng 306! 306 v Aus at Old Trafford 2018
*Indicates a provisional rating
! Indicates career-best rating
