Dubai, 7 June 2008
India can move into third place in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship if it remains unbeaten in the tri-nation series involving Pakistan and host Bangladesh starting in Dhaka from Sunday.
Currently on same ratings points as New Zealand (113) but behind the Black Caps when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, India can take a two-point lead over Daniel Vettori’s side if it wins th
e two league matches and then the final on 14 June.
However, if Pakistan wins both its league matches and the final, it will leapfrog India to share third position with New Zealand on 113 ratings points but behind the Black Caps by a fraction of a point with India dropping to fifth position on 111 ratings points.
At the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship table South Africa leads Australia by a fraction of a ratings point. However, Australia could regain the top position as it goes head-to-head with the West Indies in a five-match series from 24 June while South Africa ’s ODI series against England will not start until 22 August.
With just eight ratings points separating New Zealand in third position and England in seventh, the table is very congested and there is plenty of scope for the situation to change over the coming weeks and months as no less than 45 ODIs will be played in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan in September.
These matches will not only provide the big guns with the opportunity to gain places in the championship table but will also help them find the winning combination for the Pakistan tournament in which the top eight teams in the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship as on 11 March 2008 will participate.
The short and sharp tournament will be played under a new format of two groups of four, semi-finals and final with 15 matches to be held in 18 days.
India maestro Sachin Tendulkar will miss the Bangladesh tri-series and also the Asia Cup to be held in Pakistan later this month. This means he will not be able to regain his top position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen which he conceded to South Africa ’s Graeme Smith in April.
In fact, Tendulkar may even fall below third-placed Ricky Ponting of Australia and Pakistan ’s Mohammad Yousuf in fourth position if the two batsmen strike gold in their respective series. Only 14 ratings points separate Tendulkar from Yousuf.
However, there is a good opportunity for India ’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh to gain some places in the batting chart.
A string of good performances can help Dhoni break into the top five as he trails fifth-placed Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies and Matthew Hayden of Australia by 12 ratings points.
Yuvraj can overtake 14th-placed Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka who leads the India vice-captain by seven points.
Yousuf may be the only Pakistan batsman in the top 20 but captain Shoaib Malik (22nd) and opener Salman Butt (23rd) are within striking distance of entering the top 20. Shoaib trails 20th-placed Ian Bell of England by nine points while Salman is another six points behind.
Saqibul Hasan and Shahriar Nafees, in 38th and 39th positions respectively, are the highest-ranked Bangladesh batsmen with Tamim Iqbal and captain Mohammad Ashraful sitting in 53rd and 59th places, respectively.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, Pakistan ’s Shahid Afridi in 10th position is the highest-ranked bowler amongst the three participating teams. India ’s Harbhajan Singh is in 18th place but he has not been selected for the event.
Pakistan pace trio of Iftikhar Anjum, Sohail Tanvir and Umar Gul are 21st, 24th and 31st, respectively while Bangladesh’s Abdur Razzak and Mashrafe Mortaza are in 27th and 28th positions, respectively.
India ’s highest-ranked bowler in Harbhajan’s absence is Irfan Pathan in 38th place while Sreesanth (49th), RP Singh (66th), Piyush Chawla (101st) and Ishant Sharma (106th) will be hoping for an upward movement.
In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for all-rounders, Pakistan duo of Shoaib and Shahid occupy the top two places with only five ratings points separating them.
Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Championship (as of 6 June 2008)
Rank Team Rating
1 South Africa 127
2 Australia 127
3 New Zealand 113
4 India 113
5 Pakistan 110
6 Sri Lanka 105
7 England 105
8 West Indies 99
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Ireland 20
11 Zimbabwe 18
12 Kenya 0
Reliance Mobile ICC One-Day Rankings (as of 6 June 2008)
Batsmen
Rank Player Team Points Ave HS Rating
1 Graeme Smith SA 792! 41.11 792 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
2 S.R.Tendulkar Ind 777 44.33 887 v Zim at Sharjah 1998
3 Ricky Ponting Aus 770 43.40 832 v NZ at Hobart 2007
4 Mohd Yousuf Pak 763 43.62 777 v SA at Rawalpindi 2003
5= S.Chanderpaul WI 740 40.24 754 v SA at Durban 1999
Matthew Hayden Aus 740 43.80 854 v Ind at Centurion 2003
7 Mike Hussey Aus 736 55.60 863 v NZ at Perth 2007
8 Kevin Pietersen Eng 735 48.18 834 v Aus at Antigua 2007
9 AB de Villiers SA 733! 37.66 733 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
10 MS Dhoni Ind 728 45.50 806 v WI at Kingston 2006
11 H.H.Gibbs SA 718 36.53 750 v SL at Durban 2003
12 Michael Clarke Aus 717 44.04 756 v SL at Melbourne 2008
13 Andrew Symonds Aus 713 39.68 778 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
14 K.C.Sangakkara SL 698 35.72 760 v Ind at Rajkot 2007
15 Yuvraj Singh Ind 691 36.09 739 v WI at Port-of-Spain 2006
16 Jacques Kallis SA 688 45.21 816 v WI at Johannesburg 2004
17 Chris Gayle WI 687 38.93 804 v Aus at Mumbai 2006
18 R.R.Sarwan WI 681 44.12 798 v Ind at St Kitts 2006
19 M.Jayawardena SL 661 33.04 737 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2001
20 Ian Bell Eng 657 36.29 705 v Ind at Birmingham 2007
Bowlers
Rank Player Team Points Ave Econ HS Rating
1 Daniel Vettori NZ 790! 31.87 4.18 790 v Eng at Christchurch 2008
2 Nathan Bracken Aus 770 21.89 4.37 806 v SL at St George's 2007
3 Shane Bond NZ 736 19.32 4.20 811 v SA at St George's 2007
4= Chaminda Vaas SL 683 27.41 4.18 861 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2004
Kyle Mills NZ 683 26.66 4.65 694 v Ban at Queenstown 2007
6 Andre Nel SA 682 26.95 4.61 685 v Ban at Dhaka 2008
7 Daren Powell WI 680! 30.16 4.56 680 v SL at St Lucia 2008
8 Jerome Taylor WI 678 27.46 4.69 688 v SA at Cape Town 2008
9 Brett Lee Aus 671 22.81 4.71 853 v SA at Melbourne 2006
10 Shahid Afridi Pak 662! 35.00 4.61 662 v Ban at Karachi 2008
11 M.Muralidaran SL 658 23.00 3.87 913 v NZ at Sharjah 2002
12 M.F.Maharoof SL 644 24.39 4.65 671 v Eng at Dambulla 2007
13 Brad Hogg Aus 636 26.84 4.52 687 v Ind at Nagpur 2007
14 Makhaya Ntini SA 635 24.12 4.46 782 v WI at Cape Town 2004
15= Andrew Flintoff Eng 634 25.10 4.37 755 v Ban at Dhaka 2003
Jacob Oram NZ 634 31.24 4.48 768 v Aus at The Oval 2004
17 M.G.Johnson Aus 632* 25.41 4.80 659 v SL at Melbourne 2008
18 Harbhajan Singh Ind 615 33.51 4.18 735 v WI at Bridgetown 2002
19 Lasith Malinga SL 612 25.58 4.80 687 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2007
20 Peter Ongondo Ken 610! 25.14 4.34 610 v Ber at Nairobi 2007
All-rounders
Rank Player Team Points HS Rating
1 Shoaib Malik Pak 353 402 v WI at Brisbane 2005
2 Shahid Afridi Pak 348 353 v SA at Tangier 2002
3 Chris Gayle WI 339 511 v Zim at Harare 2003
4 Andrew Flintoff Eng 337 544 v SL at The Rose Bowl 2004
5 Jacob Oram NZ 335 353 v Eng at Auckland 2008
ICC MEDIA RELEASE