India Ranked Second-Best (with South Africa)

South Africa’s win against India on Saturday not only earned the Proteas temporary bragging rights over a key rival at this World Cup but also brought them level with India in the world One Day International rankings – in joint-second place behind Australia.

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India’s squad for the ongoing cricket World Cup. India holds a joint-second place on the world One Day International rankings with South Africa.

The official Reliance ICC rankings now show India and South Africa on 118 points, still considerably behind a dominant Australia on 131 points.

South Africa’s victory in Nagpur saw it leapfrog World Cup co-host Sri Lanka, who slipped to fourth on 117 points, ahead of England, Pakistan, New Zealand and the West Indies, on 106, 101, 93 and 69, respectively. Bangladesh, the other World Cup co-host, is breathing down the West Indies’ neck on 68 points.

For individual rankings, South Africa’s Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers maintain first and second place for ODI batsmen, while Michael Hussey – who has only just joined the Australia squad after recovering from a hamstring injury – is in third, pushing India’s Virat Kohli down to fourth.

Indian stars Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar are in eighth and ninth position, while captain M.S. Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir have slipped to sixth and 13^th, respectively.

The top bowler is New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who is currently struggling with a knee injury, followed by South Africa’s Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, who jumped five places to a career-best ranking thanks to his man-of-the-match performance against India, when he took 5 for 50. English spinner Graeme Swann is in fourth.

Reflecting India’s weakness in bowling, the country has only two bowlers in the world top 20, with Zaheer Khan way down in 16^th and Harbhajan Singh even lower, in 19^th.

There hasn’t been any change to the top four ODI all-rounders, with, perhaps surprisingly, Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh leading the pack. He is followed by Australia’s Shane Watson, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, the leading wicket-taker so far this World Cup, and South Africa’s veteran and suddenly more hirsute Jacques Kallis.

The world rankings are calculated as a moving average that takes into account a player or team’s long-term performance as well as recent record. The table is bound to change over the coming weeks.

Some observers put great faith in the system and follow it religiously, while others question it, particularly if they feel their hero or team deserves a higher score. Personally I don’t rate rankings that much (ironic as that may sound) – there are too many variables and it’s impossible to evaluate the intangibles a player can bring to a team, but they do provide a benchmark that’s more enlightening than a simple batting average or strike rate.

Does the current table mean that Australia will stroll to World Cup victory? No. Does it mean that Hashim Amla is the best ODI batsman in the world? Hmm, maybe (incidentally, Tendulkar is the world’s top Test batsman, according to the rankings). Does it mean that Al Hasan is the world’s best all-rounder? With respect, I’d rather have Afridi in my team.

But the rankings do provide an interesting topic for debate among cricket fans.