Chance for Sri Lanka to seal direct place in ICC Cricket WC 2019

The 1996 World champions will have to win at least two matches to secure a place in the pinnacle 50-over competition by staving off the challenge from the West Indies. The cut-off date for direct qualification is 30 September.

Sri Lanka is currently placed eighth with 88 points, 10 points more than the West Indies, which has an unenviable task in its aim of being among the seven top-ranked sides apart from host England to gain direct qualification.

The bottom four sides on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings will need to play a Qualifying event also featuring the top four sides from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and top two sides from the ICC World Cricket League. The top two teams from this event will get to play in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Winning two matches will take Sri Lanka to 90 points while The Windies side will at best reach 88 points even if it wins its one-off ODI against Ireland on 13 September as well as all five matches of its series in England from 19-29 September.

However, a 4-1 win for India will see Sri Lanka finish at 88 points and The Windies could edge it on decimal points if it wins all its upcoming six matches. The Windies side will go out of contention if it loses to Ireland as from there it will at best reach 86 points and remain behind Sri Lanka on decimal points, even if Sri Lanka loses 5-0 to India.

As for India, which is in third position with 114 points, only a 4-1 series win will ensure it stays ahead of England. Even a 3-2 win for India will mean it will slip to 113 points and behind England on decimal points owing to Sri Lanka’s low ranking.

Series scenarios:

India wins 5-0 – India 117 points; Sri lanka 86 points.

India wins 4-1 – India 115 points, Sri Lanka 88 points.

India wins 3-2 – India 113 points, Sri Lanka 90 points.

Sri Lanka wins 3-2 – India 111 points, Sri Lanka 91 points.

Sri Lanka wins 4-1 – India 109 points, Sri Lanka 93 points.

Sri Lanka wins 5-0 – India 106 points, Sri Lanka 94 points.

As for the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings, India captain Virat Kohli goes into the series as the world’s top-ranked ODI batsman with 873 points and a chance to increase his 12-point lead over Australia’s David Warner.

Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (12th), Shikhar Dhawan (13th) and vice-captain Rohit Sharma (14th) are the other leading India batsmen while pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar (13th), left-arm spinner Akshar Patel (20th) and Jasprit Bumrah (31st) are the leading bowlers in the side.

For Sri Lanka, all-rounder Angelo Mathews is the leading player among batsmen (27th) as well as bowlers (53rd) and the only all-rounder in the series among the top-five. Kusal Mendis (30th), Niroshan Dickwella (38th) and captain Upul Tharanga (64th) are its other leading batsmen.

India v Sri Lanka series schedule:

20 Aug – 1st ODI, Dambulla

24 Aug – 2nd ODI, Pallekele

27 Aug – 3rd ODI, Pallekele

31 Aug – 4th ODI, Colombo

3 Sep – 5th ODI, Colombo

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 18 August, before the India v Sri Lanka series):

Rank    Team               Points

1.      South Africa      119

2.      Australia           117

3.      India                 114

4.      England            113

5.      New Zealand     111

6.      Pakistan           95

7.      Bangladesh      94

8.      Sri Lanka          88

9.      West Indies      78

10.   Afghanistan      54

11.   Zimbabwe         52

12.   Ireland              41

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings (as on 18 August, before the India v Sri Lanka series):

BATTING (top 10)

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Avge     Highest Rating

   1          Virat Kohli              Ind          873         54.68     886 v Ban at Fatullah 2014

   2          David Warner        Aus         861         44.72     880 v Pak at Adelaide 2017

   3          AB de Villiers         SA          847         53.55     902 v NZ at Auckland 2015

   4          Joe Root               Eng         799         49.37     806 v NZ at Cardiff 2017

   5          Babar Azam          Pak         786*!      53.88     786 v Ind at The Oval 2017

   6          Kane Williamson   NZ          779         46.98     798 v SA at Centurion 2015

   7          Quinton de Kock   SA          769         43.44     803 v NZ at Wellington 2017

   8          Faf du Plessis       SA          768         43.41     791 v SL at Cape Town 2017

   9          Martin Guptill         NZ          749         43.30     789 v SA at Hamilton 2017

  10         Hashim Amla        SA          741         50.25     901 v Eng at Trent Bridge 2012

OTHER SELECTED RANKINGS

Rank      Player                   Team     Points   Avge     Highest Rating

  12         MS Dhoni              Ind          728         51.32     836 v Aus at Delhi 2009

  13         Shikhar Dhawan   Ind          725         43.76     794 v SA at Melbourne 2015

  14         Rohit Sharma        Ind          724        42.46     761 v Aus at Sydney 2016

  23         Ajinkya Rahane    Ind          631!       34.77     631 v WI at Jamaica 2017

  27         Angelo Mathews   SL           611         40.68     707 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014

  30         Kusal Mendis        SL           602*       36.23     631 v Zim at Galle 2017

  38         N. Dickwella          SL           568*       42.61     590 v Zim at Hambantota 2017

  44         Kedar Jadhav       Ind          560*       56.50     571 v WI at Antigua 2017

  54         D. Chandimal        SL           523         33.44     667 v Aus at Adelaide 2012

  64         Upul Tharanga      SL           497         33.43     663 v NZ at Napier 2006

  70         D. Gunathilaka      SL           483*!      33.28     483 v Zim at Hambantota 2017

BOWLING (top 10)

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Avge     Eco.      Highest Rating

   1          J. Hazlewood        Aus         732!       23.85     4.69       732 v Eng at Edgbaston 2017

   2          Imran Tahir           SA          718         23.87     4.66       786 v SL at Johannesburg 2017

   3          Mitchell Starc        Aus         701         20.13     4.81       783 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   4          Kagiso Rabada     SA          685         26.30     5.11       724 v Eng at Lord's 2017

   5          Trent Boult            NZ          665         25.48     5.00       766 v Ind at Delhi 2016

   6          Hasan Ali               Pak         663*!      22.66     5.47       663 v Ind at The Oval 2017

   7          Sunil Narine          WI           662         26.46     4.12       791 v SL at Jamaica 2013

   8          Rashid Khan         Afg         647*!      14.74     3.97       647 v WI at St Lucia 2017

   9          Chris Woakes       Eng         627         31.60     5.58       651 v SA at Headingley 2017

  10         M. Nabi                Afg          618         32.74     4.29       653 v Zim at Harare 2017

OTHER SELECTED RANKINGS

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

  13         B. Kumar               Ind          608         37.74     4.88       657 v WI at Dharamsala 2014

  20=       Akshar Patel         Ind          585*       30.20     4.38       624 v NZ at Visakhapatnam 2016

  31         Jasprit Bumrah     Ind          551*       26.42     4.92       565 v Pak at The Oval 2017

ALL-ROUNDERS (top five)

Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Highest Rating

   1          S. Al Hasan           Ban         353        453 v Zim at Chittagong 2009

   2          M. Hafeez             Pak         339        438 v Ind at Kolkata 2013

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

   4          James Faulkner    Aus         299        361 v NZ at Melbourne 2015

   5          Angelo Mathews   SL           294        427 v Eng at Colombo (RPS) 2014