De Villiers, Hassan Ali move up to top of ODI rankings

An astonishing knock of 176 by de Villiers in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Paarl, which consisted of 15 fours and seven sixes and came off only 104 balls, has also helped South Africa edge India at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings by taking a 2-0 winning lead in the three-match series.

The latest rankings, which take into account the first two matches of the South Africa-Bangladesh series and the first three matches of the ongoing Pakistan-Sri Lanka series in the United Arab Emirates, sees de Villiers climb to the top of the ODI table for the 14th time in his career.

De Villiers, who has leapfrogged Australian David Warner and India captain Virat Kohli, had first attained top position on 30 May 2010 and the number of days he has spent at the top is second most after retired Windies great Vivian Richards. De Villiers has now been at the top for 2,124 days while Richards was number one for 2,306 days.

Other batsmen to move up include Pakistan’s Babar Azam (up two places to a career-best fourth position), the South African pair of Quinton de Kock (up three places to fifth) and Hashim Amla (up two places to ninth), and Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim (up five places to 18th).

Among bowlers, Hasan Ali’s haul of five for 34 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi, which his team won by seven wickets for a decisive 3-0 lead in the five-match series, has given the pace bowler a big boost in ranking points.

The 23-year-old, who has taken nine wickets in the series so far, has moved up six places to become the fifth bowler at the top of the ODI rankings this year after Trent Boult, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada and Josh Hazlewood.

Outside of the top 20, Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal (up three places to 36th), South Africa’s Andile Phehlukwayo (up 30 places to 52nd) and Bangladesh’s Rubel Hossain (up seven places to 61st) are the other bowlers to move northwards.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez is back as the top all-rounder, edging Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan. Hafeez, who first attained top ranking in January 2013, has reached the top spot for the ninth time.

Meanwhile, India will be looking to wrest back the top spot in the team rankings when they take on New Zealand in an upcoming three-match series.

South Africa and India are both on 120 points with South Africa ahead on decimal points. South Africa can reach 121 points if they complete a 3-0 series win over Bangladesh but India will overtake them if they win the opening match against New Zealand, to be played the same day as the last South Africa-Bangladesh match, on 22 October.

If India win that match, they too will be on 121 points but ahead in decimal-point calculation. However, India will have to win the series against New Zealand 3-0 to retain the top spot should South Africa win the last match against Bangladesh.

India v New Zealand ODI series itinerary:

22 October: 1st ODI, Mumbai

25 October: 2nd ODI, Pune

29 October: 3rd ODI, Kanpur

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 20 October, after the first three matches of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series and the first two matches of the South Africa-Bangladesh series):

Rank    Team               Points

1.      South Africa      120

2.      India                 120

3.      Australia           114

4.      England            114

5.      New Zealand     111

6.      Pakistan           98

7.      Bangladesh      92

8.      Sri Lanka          84

9.      West Indies      77

10.   Afghanistan      54

11.   Zimbabwe         52

12.   Ireland              41

MRF Tyres ICCODI Player Rankings (as on 20 October, after the first three matches of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series and the first two matches of the South Africa-Bangladesh series):

BATTING (top 20)

Rank      (+/-)       Player                   Team     Points    Avge      Highest Rating

   1          (+2)        AB de Villiers        SA          879        54.25      902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

   2          (-1)         Virat Kohli             Ind          877        55.13      887 v Aus at Kolkata 2017

   3          (-1)         David Warner       Aus         865        44.94      880 v Pak at Adelaide 2017

   4          (+2)        Babar Azam          Pak         833*!      56.30      833 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2017

   5=        (+3)        Quinton de Kock  SA          802        45.52      805 v Ban at Kimberley 2017

               (-1)         Joe Root               Eng         802        50.00      808 v Win at Bristol 2017

   7          (-2)         Rohit Sharma       Ind          790!       44.03      790 v Aus at Nagpur 2017

   8          (-1)         Kane Williamson   NZ          779        46.98      798 v SA at Centurion 2015

   9          (+2)        Hashim Amla        SA          770        51.25      901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

  10         (-1)         Faf du Plessis       SA          754        42.96      791 v SL at Cape Town 2017

  11         (-1)         Martin Guptill        NZ          749        43.30      789 v SA at Hamilton 2017

  12         ( - )         MS Dhoni              Ind          738        51.90      836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

  13         ( - )         Steve Smith          Aus         728        43.23      752 v Pak at Sydney 2017

  14         ( - )         Shikhar Dhawan   Ind          715        44.45      794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

  15         ( - )         Ross Taylor          NZ          707        44.12      743 v Zim at Harare 2015

  16         ( - )         Tamim Iqbal          Ban         680        34.32      688 v Aus at The Oval 2017

  17         ( - )         Aaron Finch          Aus         674        36.56      743 v Eng at Melbourne 2015

  18         (+5)        Mushfiqur Rahim  Ban         667        33.10      671 v Zim at Mirpur 2015

  19         (-1)         Alex Hales             Eng         660        37.89      705 v NZ at Cardiff 2017

  20         (-1)         Eoin Morgan         Eng         650        38.16      690 v Aus at The Oval 2010

BOWLING (top 20)

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Points    Avge     Eco.      Highest Rating

   1          (+6)        Hasan Ali              Pak         743*!      20.66     5.19       743 v SL at Abu Dhabi 2017

   2          (-1)         Imran Tahir           SA          726         23.87     4.66       786 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   3          (-1)         Josh Hazlewood   Aus         714         23.85     4.69       732 v Eng at Edgbaston 2017

   4          (-1)         Kagiso Rabada     SA          703         25.98     5.07       724 v Eng at Lord's 2017

   5          (-1)         Mitchell Starc        Aus         684         20.13     4.81       783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   6          (-1)         Jasprit Bumrah     Ind          671*       22.10     4.75       687 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017

   7          (-1)         Trent Boult            NZ          665         25.48     5.00       766 v Ind at Delhi 2016

   8          (-1)         Akshar Patel         Ind          663*!      29.88     4.36       663 v Aus at Nagpur 2017

   9          ( - )         Rashid Khan         Afg         647*!      14.74     3.97       647 v Win at St Lucia 2017

  10=       ( - )         Sunil Narine          Win         646         26.46     4.12       791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

               ( - )         Liam Plunkett        Eng         646!       30.22     5.77       646 v Win at Southampton 2017

  12         ( - )         Adil Rashid            Eng         639         32.02     5.55       655 v Ban at Chittagong 2016

  13         ( - )         Chris Woakes       Eng         635         31.45     5.58       651 v SA at Headingley 2017

  14         ( - )         B. Kumar               Ind          626        36.71     4.86       657 v Win at Dharamsala 2014

  15         ( - )         Mohammad Nabi  Afg         618        32.74     4.29       653 v Zim at Harare 2017

  16         ( - )         Mitchell Santner    NZ          610*       33.77     4.99       617 v Ban at Dublin 2017

  17         ( - )         Matt Henry            NZ          606        25.26     5.62       675 v Aus at Hamilton 2016

  18         (+1)        Morne Morkel       SA          590        24.48     4.94       717 v SL at East London 2012

  19         (+1)        Shakib Al Hasan   Ban         586        29.70     4.43       717 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

  20         (+1)        Pat Cummins        Aus         580        29.24     5.41       588 v Ind at Indore 2017

ALL-ROUNDERS (top five)

Rank      (+/-)      Player                   Team     Points    Highest Rating

   1          (+1)        M. Hafeez             Pak         360        438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

   2          (-1)         S. Al Hasan           Ban         345        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   3          ( - )         M. Nabi                Afg          329        349 v Ire at Greater Noida 2017

   4          ( - )         Angelo Mathews   SL           296        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

   5          ( - )         Ben Stokes           Eng         293        299 v Win at Bristol 2017