Pakistan need to win just one match to retain top position in the T20I rankings

Australia have a chance to overhaul Pakistan and attain top position in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings for the first time when the two face off in a three-match series in the United Arab Emirates.

⦁ Australia will overtake Pakistan with a 3-0 series sweep, will go past India to second position with a series win

⦁ Pakistan need to win just one match to retain top position in the T20I rankings

⦁ Finch, Fakhar, Shadab and Maxwell among leading players of the shortest format to be seen in the series

Australia have a chance to attain top position in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings for the first time when they take on Pakistan in a three-match series in the United Arab Emirates from Wednesday.

The mission though is not easy since only a 3-0 victory will lift the reigning 50-over world champions to become the eighth side to attain top ranking in the T20I format. England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Windies are the other sides to have been top-ranked.

Australia, who scored an easy seven-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates on Monday, are presently third with 123 points, just one point behind India, while Pakistan are perched at 132 points. A series sweep will take Australia to 130 points and bring Pakistan down to 127 points while Australia will move ahead of India to second position with a 2-1 series win.

On the other hand, Pakistan need to win just one of the three matches to remain in top place.

⦁ Pakistan win 3-0: Pakistan 136 points, Australia 118 points
⦁ Pakistan win 2-1: Pakistan133, Australia 122
⦁ Australia win 2-1: Pakistan 130, Australia 126
⦁ Australia win 3-0: Australia 130, Pakistan 127

There would also be several top-ranked players looking forward to the series with enthusiasm.

Australia captain Aaron Finch leads the list of batsmen in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings with Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman aiming to bridge the 49-point gap.
Glenn Maxwell, the top ranked all-rounder, would be looking to improve his ranking among batsmen as he is currently in sixth place with 761 points, only four behind Babar Azam of the opposing side.

In the bowlers’ list, Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan gets a chance to bridge the gap to Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who is the top-ranked bowler. Andrew Tye also has a chance to move up from his current sixth position.

In between, Sri Lanka and England will play a one-off T20I which could see England lose one position with a defeat. They will lose four points and go down to 113 points and fifth position in such a scenario even as Sri Lanka will gain two points but remain ninth. On the other hand, there will be no change in positions with an England win, England going up to 117 points and Sri Lanka slipping to 87 points.

Upcoming matches:

Pakistan v Australia:

24 October – 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
26 October – 2nd T20I, Dubai
28 October – 3rd T20I, Dubai

Sri Lanka v England:

27 October – Only T20I, Colombo

MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings (as of 23 October):

Rank	Team	Points
1	Pakistan	132
2	India	124
3	Australia 123	123
4	England	117
5	New Zealand	116
6	South Africa	114
7	Windies	106
8	Afghanistan	92
9	Sri Lanka	88
10	Bangladesh	77
11	Scotland	62
12	Zimbabwe	55
13	UAE	50
14	Netherlands	50
15	Hong Kong	42
16	Oman	39
17	Ireland	35

Nepal have 26 rating points but need to play one more match before being ranked

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC T20I Player Rankings (as of 23 October):

Batsmen (top 20)

Rank	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	S/R	Highest Rating
1	Aaron Finch	Aus	891	45.6	162	900 v Zim at Harare 2018
2	Fakhar Zaman	Pak	842!	30.76	144	842 v Aus at Harare 2018
3	Lokesh Rahul	Ind	812	49.71	155	854 v Eng at Old Trafford 2018
4	Colin Munro	NZ	801	33.51	164	805 v Pak at Wellington 2018
5	Babar Azam	Pak	765	53	127	881 v Win at Karachi 2018
6	Glenn Maxwell	Aus	761	32.94	163	801 v NZ at Auckland 2018
7	Martin Guptill	NZ	746	34.4	133	792 v SA at Hamilton 2012
8	Alex Hales	Eng	710	32.67	136	866 v Ind at Edgbaston 2014
9	D’Arcy Short	Aus	690*!	41.88	132	690 v Pak at Harare 2018
10	Rohit Sharma	Ind	678	32.59	137	681 v Ban at Mirpur 2016
11=	Evin Lewis	Win	671*	33.06	157	780 v Eng at Durham 2017
	Virat Kohli	Ind	671	48.88	136	897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014
13	M. Shahzad	Afg	647	31.22	135	706 v Ire at Greater Noida 2017
14	Jason Roy	Eng	641!	21.74	142	641 v Ind at Bristol 2018
15	Kane Williamson	NZ	634	31.33	121	760 v Ban at Napier 2017
16	Jos Buttler	Eng	614!	27.1	138	614 v Ind at Bristol 2018
17	Hashim Amla	SA	602	33.6	132	682 v Ban at Potchefstroom 2017
18	H. Masakadza	Zim	599	27.07	117	698 v Ban at Khulna 2016
19	Eoin Morgan	Eng	596	28.71	132	872 v Ind at Old Trafford 2011
20	Joe Root	Eng	595	35.77	129	750 v Win at Kolkata 2016

Bowlers (top 20)

Rank	Player	Team	Pts	Avge	Eco	Highest Rating
1	Rashid Khan	Afg	793	12.4	6.01	816 v Ban at Dehradun 2018
2	Shadab Khan	Pak	723	18	6.72	769 v Sco at Edinburgh 2018
3	Ish Sodhi	NZ	700	19.33	7.43	739 v Pak at Wellington 2018
4	Y. Chahal	Ind	685	18.97	7.85	706 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2018
5	Mitchell Santner	NZ	665	21.37	7.14	731 v Pak at Wellington 2018
6	Andrew Tye	Aus	658!	20.89	8.7	658 v Pak at Harare 2018
7	Samuel Badree	Win	655	21.07	6.17	855 v Pak at Mirpur 2014
8	Imran Tahir	SA	653	14.95	6.77	795 v NZ at Auckland 2017
9	Adil Rashid	Eng	639	28.82	7.68	640 v Ind at Cardiff 2018
10	Shakib Al Hasan	Ban	633	21.06	6.74	672 v Pak at Mirpur 2014
11	Mohammad Nabi	Afg	630	24.25	7.13	638 v Ban at Dehradun 2018
12	Liam Plunkett	Eng	627	25.04	7.81	643 v Ind at Cardiff 2018
13	Mohammad Amir	Pak	609	19.98	6.83	700 v Aus at Edgbaston 2010
14	David Willey	Eng	607	24.67	8.44	615 v Ind at Cardiff 2018
15	Trent Boult	NZ	599	21.18	8.53	622 v Aus at Sydney 2018
16=	Chris Jordan	Eng	598	28.71	8.82	628 v Ind at Nagpur 2017
	M. Rahman	Ban	598	17.44	7.38	695 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2017
18	Billy Stanlake	Aus	570*!	23.43	8.33	570 v Pak at Harare 2018
19	Mark Watt	Sco	568	26.36	7.53	573 v Pak at Edinburgh 2018
20=	Jasprit Bumrah	Ind	566	19.93	6.79	764 v Eng at Bengaluru 2017

All-rounders (top five)

Rank	Player	Team	Pts	Highest Rating
1	Glenn Maxwell	Aus	366	396 v Eng at Melbourne 2018
2	Mohammad Nabi	Afg	313	323 v Ban at Dehradun 2018
3	Shakib Al Hasan	Ban	309	408 v Pak at Mirpur 2015
4	JP Duminy	SA	225	276 v Ban at Mirpur 2015
5	Marlon Samuels	Win	222	321 v SL at Mirpur 2014