India and South Africa gear up for ICC World Twenty20 2016

The ICC World Twenty20 2016 will be staged from 11 March to 3 April 2016, and Sri Lanka will defend the title it won in Dhaka last year when it defeated 2007 champion India in the final.

Besides preparing for the 16-team ICC World Twenty20 2016, the sides will also aim to improve their positions on the ICC T20I Team Rankings. Fourth-ranked India currently leads sixth-ranked South Africa by seven points, which means there will be changes in the table irrespective of how the series pans out.

India will have an incentive to rise two places to second but, to make it happen, it will have to win all the three matches. In this scenario, India will join number-one ranked Sri Lanka on 126 points but will be placed below the Asian neighbours when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

If the series result is reversed, then South Africa will join the West Indies on 117 points but will be ranked behind the Caribbean side at the fifth spot, while India will slip to eighth position.

A 2-1 series win for India will lift it ahead of Australia and just one point behind second-ranked Pakistan, while the same result for South Africa will help it rise to fifth with India dropping to sixth.

In the ICC T20I Player Rankings, which were updated following the conclusion of Zimbabwe and Pakistan series, India’s Virat Kohli will defend his number-one batting position. The India top-order batsman had moved ahead of Australia’s Aaron Finch, who had slipped to second after missing his side’s T20I against England in Cardiff.

Kohli leads Finch by seven points and to retain the top spot, the former India U19 captain will have to perform strongly in the series.

Likewise, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis will also be targeting an improvement in his batting ranking. Du Plessis is currently in fourth position and trails England’s Alex Hales by 47 points.

Other top-ranked batsmen to feature in the forthcoming series include Suresh Raina (11th), JP Duminy (16th), Quinton de Kock (22nd), Hashim Amla (24th), David Miller (31st), MS Dhoni (33rd) and AB de Villiers (39th).

India’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be the highest-ranked bowler from either side. The 29-year-old from Chennai is ranked fourth and has Sri Lanka’s third-ranked Sachithra Senanayake firmly within his sights.

South Africa’s Imran Tahir is his side’s highest-ranked bowler in 12th position and will be looking to break into the top 10 for the first time in his career. He trails Sri Lanka’s 10th-ranked Nuwan Kulasekara by 19 points.

Other bowlers aiming to make progress include Bhuvneshwar Kumar (35th), Kyle Abbott (44th), Harbhajan Singh (49th) and Duminy (60th).

Duminy (seventh) and Kohli (14th) are their sides’ highest-ranked all-rounders with the list headed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.

Series schedule:

2 Oct – 1st T20I, Dharamsala

5 Oct – 2nd T20I, Cuttack

8 Oct – 3rd T20I, Kolkata

ICC T20I Team Rankings (as of 30 September 2015, after Zimbabwe-Pakistan series and before India-South Africa series)

Rank   Team              Points

1          Sri Lanka        126

2          Pakistan          121

3          Australia         118

4          India                118

5          West Indies     117

6          South Africa   111

7          New Zealand   108

8          England           107

9          Afghanistan    77

10        Bangladesh     73

11        Hong Kong     72

12        Scotland          66

13        Netherlands     61

14        Zimbabwe       54

15        Ireland             42

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC T20I Player Rankings (as of 30 September 2015, after Zimbabwe-Pakistan series and before India-South Africa series)

Batsmen

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Points    Ave        S/rate    HS Rating

   1         ( - )        Virat Kohli          Ind         861        46.28    132        897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014

   2         ( - )        Aaron Finch         Aus        854        39.78    152        892 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

   3         ( - )        Alex Hales           Eng        841        36.40    137        866 v Ind at Edgbaston 2014

   4         ( - )        Faf du Plessis      SA         794        42.36    136        843 v Ban at Mirpur 2015

   5         ( - )        Chris Gayle         WI         732        35.15    143        831 v Aus at Colombo (RPS) 2012

   6         ( - )        B. McCullum       NZ         712        35.66    136        849 v Ban at Pallekele 2012

   7         ( - )        Kusal Perera        SL          680*     27.20    134        751 v SA at Chittagong 2014

   8         ( - )        Eoin Morgan       Eng        675        29.87    134        872 v Ind at Old Trafford 2011

   9         ( - )        Martin Guptill     NZ         653        32.13    123        793 v SA at Hamilton 2012

  10        ( - )        David Warner      Aus        652        28.96    138        826 v WI at St Lucia 2010

Selected Rankings

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Points    Ave        S/rate    HS Rating

  11        ( - )        Suresh Raina       Ind         650        32.65    135        776 v Eng at Kolkata 2011

  13        (-1)        H. Masakadza      Zim        632        27.08    114        685 v Ban at Bulawayo 2013

  14        (-1)        Ahmed Shehzad  Pak        625        26.54    115        709 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

  16        ( - )        JP Duminy           SA         615        35.75    122        713 v NZ at Chittagong 2014

  17        (+1)       Umar Akmal        Pak        613        27.35    123        709 v Zim at Harare 2011

  22        (+1)       Quinton de Kock SA         550*     28.50    122        573 v Ban at Mirpur 2015

  23        (-1)        M. Hafeez            Pak        543        23.31    115        649 v SL at Dubai 2013

  24        ( - )        Hashim Amla      SA         541        25.46    122        611 v Ind at Mirpur 2014

  28        (+8)       E. Chigumbura    Zim        522*!    21.85    153        522 v Pak at Harare 2015

  31        (-1)        David Miller        SA         513!      28.66    128        513 v NZ at Centurion 2015

  33        ( - )        MS Dhoni            Ind         492        33.96    116        515 v Aus at Mirpur 2014

  34        (-3)        Shahid Afridi       Pak        488        18.51    147        537 v SA at Abu Dhabi 2010

  39        (+1)       AB de Villiers     SA         471        22.38    126        571 v WI at Antigua 2010

  49        (-15)      Mukhtar Ahmed  Pak        430*     32.00    143        545 v Zim at Lahore 2015

  51        (-5)        J. Chibhabha        Zim        422*     22.27    109        470 v NZ at Harare 2011

  57        (+6)       Sean Williams     Zim        376*!    24.75    120        376 v Pak at Harare 2015

  60        (+2)       Shoaib Malik       Pak        357        22.91    107        577 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009

  68        ( - )        Ajinkya Rahane   Ind         309*     21.00    116        324 v Zim at Harare 2015

Bowlers

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Points    Ave        Econ.     HS Rating

   1         ( - )        Samuel Badree    WI         782        14.96    5.39      855 v Pak at Mirpur 2014

   2         ( - )        Sunil Narine        WI         760        17.52    5.70      817 v Pak at St. Vincent 2013

   3         ( - )        S. Senanayake     SL          684*     16.66    5.45      712 v Eng at The Oval 2014

   4         ( - )        R. Ashwin            Ind         669        29.28    7.32      717 v SA at Mirpur 2014

   5         ( - )        Mitchell Starc     Aus        659        19.53    6.72      702 v Pak at Dubai 2014

   6         ( - )        Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        652        20.22    6.49      672 v Pak at Mirpur 2014

   7         ( - )        Lasith Malinga    SL          647        21.72    7.38      680 v Eng at Bristol 2011

   8         (+1)       N. McCullum      NZ         642        22.85    6.90      709 v Zim at Harare 2011

   9         (-2)        Shahid Afridi       Pak        638        24.30    6.60      814 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009

  10        ( - )        N. Kulasekara      SL          629        22.60    7.26      676 v Aus at Melbourne 2013

Selected Rankings

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Points    Ave        Econ.     HS Rating

  12        (+2)       Imran Tahir         SA         610*     14.68    6.22      675 v WI at Johannesburg 2015

  15        (+8)       Sohail Tanvir       Pak        596!      27.57    7.08      596 v Zim at Harare 2015

  18        (-7)        Prosper Utseya    Zim        587       33.00    6.87      667 v Pak at Harare 2013

  35        ( - )        B. Kumar             Ind         517*!    18.53    6.17      517 v Zim at Harare 2015

  44        (-1)        Kyle Abbott         SA         478*!    28.81    8.09      478 v NZ at Centurion 2015

  49        (-1)        Harbhajan Singh  Ind         468        25.08    6.40      701 v WI at Barbados 2010

  60        ( - )        JP Duminy           SA         415*     25.56    7.15      432 v Ban at Mirpur 2015

  66        ( - )        Shoaib Malik       Pak        391*     20.09    6.66      402 v SL at Lord's 2009

  70        (+9)       Mohammad Irfan Pak        377*!    34.50    7.13      377 v Zim at Harare 2015

All-rounders

Rank     (+/-)       Player                  Team     Points    HS Rating

   1         ( - )        Shakib Al Hasan  Ban        393       408 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

   2         ( - )        M. Hafeez            Pak        315       441 v SL at Dubai 2013

   3         ( - )        Shahid Afridi       Pak        311       413 v NZ at Dubai 2009

!indicates career-highest rating