Opportunity for South Africa to catch up with India

Faf du Plessis’s side is presently 13 points behind Virat Kohli’s team, which is sitting on top of the table on 124 points. However, both the sides will finish on 118 points if the South Africa side makes a clean sweep of the series.

Nevertheless, even in that scenario, India will be ranked above South Africa when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point. In such a situation, India will be on 118.47 points, while South Africa will be on 117.53.

On the other side of the coin, if India win all the three Tests of the series, then they will move to 128 points while South Africa will slip to 107 poin.

The following are the series permutations:

·       South Africa 3 India 0 - South Africa will join India on 118 points but India will be ranked first by a fraction of a point

·       South Africa 2 India 1 or South Africa 1 India 0 – South Africa 115 India 121

·       South Africa 2 India 0 – South Africa 116 India 120

·       India 3 South Africa 0 – India 128 South Africa 107

·       India 2 South Africa 1 or India 1 South Africa 0 – India 125 South Africa 110

·       India 2 South Africa 0 – India 126 South Africa 109

·       Drawn series – India 123 South Africa 112

Meanwhile, Australia have been guaranteed third place in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings after leading the series 3-0 with the fifth and final Test to begin in Sydney on Thursday, 4 January. However, England will have to win the Test to avoid finishing in fifth place.

If Australia win the series 4-0, then they will finish third on 104 points and England will end on fifth with 99 points, while a 3-1 series win for Australia will mean they will finish third on 102 points and England in fourth on 101 points.

The MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings, unlike the ODI and T20I rankings, are updated after the end of a series. The ICC Test predictor function is available here.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen, India’s second-ranked Virat Kohli will aim to break the 900-point mark for the first time in his career.

The in-form right-hander is presently on 893 points and a solid performance will potentially see him join the select group of players with a rating of 900 or more, which in ranking terms is an indication of a player’s quality, as to achieve it a player has to be among the very best over a protracted period.

India’s Cheteshwar Pujara is 20 points behind Kohli in third place, while Hashim Amla of South Africa is the other player who features in the top 10, in seventh position.

Amongst the bowlers, South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada is breathing down number-one ranked James Anderson’s neck. Second-ranked Rabada is nine points behind Anderson and depending on how the two bowlers perform in the coming days, there could potentially be a change at the top of the order.

Series schedule:

5-9 Jan – 1st Test, Newlands

13-17 Jan – 2nd Test, Centurion

24-28 Jan – 3rd Test, New Wanderers Stadium

MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings (as on 3 January 2018, before the start of South Africa v India series)

Rank      Team                   Points

1.      India                     124

2.      South Africa         111

3.      England                105

4.      New Zealand        100

5.      Australia               97

6.      Sri Lanka              94

7.      Pakistan               88

8.      Windies                72

9.      Bangladesh          72

10.   Zimbabwe            01

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF TYRES ICC TEST PLAYER RANKINGS (as on 3 January 2018, before the start of Cape Town and Sydney Tests)

BATSMEN (top 10)

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Avge      Highest Rating

   1         Steve Smith         Aus        947!      63.55    947 v Eng at Melbourne 2017

   2         Virat Kohli            Ind         893        53.75    895 v Ban at Hyderabad 2017

   3         C. Pujara              Ind         873        52.96    888 v SL at Nagpur 2017

   4=       Kane Williamson  NZ          855        50.62    893 v Aus at Perth 2015

              Joe Root              Eng        855        52.45    917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

   6         David Warner       Aus        831        48.72    880 v NZ at Perth 2015

   7         Hashim Amla       SA          776        49.61    907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

   8         Alastair Cook       Eng        759        46.52    874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012

   9         Azhar Ali              Pak        755        46.62    787 v Aus at Melbourne 2016

  10        D. Chandimal       SL          743!      43.94    743 v Ind at Delhi 2017

SELECTED RANKINGS

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Avge      Highest Rating

  12        Lokesh Rahul       Ind         728*      44.62    761 v SL at Pallekele 2017

  13        Dean Elgar           SA          722        42.12    740 v NZ at Dunedin 2017

  14        Faf du Plessis      SA          711        46.54    718 v Ban at Bloemfontein 2017

  15        Quinton de Kock  SA          708        43.83    802 v NZ at Hamilton 2017

  18        AB de Villiers       SA          689        50.47    935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

  19        Ajinkya Rahane    Ind         662        44.15    825 v NZ at Indore 2016

  25        Murali Vijay          Ind         636        41.57    747 v SA at Bengaluru 2015

30        Shikhar Dhawan  Ind         613        43.78    627 v SL at Kolkata 2017

  40        Temba Bavuma   SA          571        33.13    589 v Ban at Potchefstroom 2017

  41        Rohit Sharma       Ind         565*      42.45    578 v NZ at Wellington 2014

  50        Wriddhiman Saha Ind         506        32.11    524 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

BOWLERS (top 10)

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Avge      Highest Rating

   1         James Anderson  Eng        892        27.35    896 v Win at Lord's 2017

   2         Kagiso Rabada    SA          883!      22.29    883 v Zim at Port Elizabeth 2017

   3         Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         870        23.73    899 v Aus at Ranchi 2017

   4         R.Ashwin              Ind         829        25.44    904 v Eng at Mumbai 2016

   5         Josh Hazlewood  Aus        819        25.60    863 v Ind at Bengaluru 2017

   6         Rangana Herath  SL          799        28.04    867 v Zim at Harare 2016

   7         Neil Wagner         NZ          784        27.87    785 v Win at Wellington 2017

   8         Mitchell Starc       Aus        774        27.52    805 v Pak at Brisbane 2016

   9         Nathan Lyon        Aus        771        31.60    774 v Eng at Adelaide 2017

  10        Morne Morkel       SA          753        28.45    776 v Aus at Cape Town 2011

SELECTED RANKINGS

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Avge      Highest Rating

  11        Dale Steyn           SA          741        22.30    909 v Win at Centurion 2014

  12        Vernon Philander SA          739        22.37    912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

  16        Keshav Maharaj   SA          695*!     25.03    695 v Zim at Port Elizabeth 2017

  19        M. Shami              Ind         630*      30.77    647 v SL at Kolkata 2017

  25        Umesh Yadav      Ind         572*      35.90    578 v SL at Nagpur 2017

  27        Ishant Sharma     Ind         539        36.55    671 v Win at Dominica 2011

  30        B. Kumar              Ind         532*      27.18    543 v SL at Kolkata 2017

ALL-ROUNDERS (top three)

Rank      Player                  Team     Points   Highest Rating

   1         Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        438       489 v Aus at Mirpur 2017

   2         Ravindra Jadeja   Ind         415       438 v SL at Colombo (SSC) 2017

   3         R. Ashwin             Ind         369       493 v Eng at Mohali 2016