Top-ranked Pakistan, second-ranked Australia and third-ranked India will all be in action in upcoming matches as the uppermost tiers of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings have the potential to change over the next two weeks.

Pakistan, who lead the table with 131 points, will be the favourites in the upcoming Zimbabwe tri-series to be played in Harare from 1-8 July but the presence of Australia in the competition spices up the contests as the reigning ICC Cricket World Cup champions are only five points behind the leaders and have a good chance to overtake them.

Irrespective of the result of Australia’s one-off match against England ahead of the tournament, they can take top spot if they win all four of their matches against Pakistan and Zimbabwe. In such a scenario, they will move ahead of Pakistan even if the latter beats Zimbabwe in both of their matches.

Pakistan and Australia are not the only teams that can benefit from a victory in the tri-series as Zimbabwe, currently placed 12th, will overtake Scotland on the points table even with a solitary win in the tournament.

India has the potential of reaching 127 points by winning their five matches – two against Ireland and three against England. On the other hand, England could go up to 126 points if they beat Australia and then defeat India 3-0. India or England could reach the top spot if Zimbabwe is able to pull off a couple of upsets in the tri-series and depending on other results, Australia and Pakistan could be restricted to below those numbers.

Ireland (placed 17th on the points table) will overtake Oman if they win one match against India and will move to 15th position, also ahead of Hong Kong, if they pull off a 2-0 series win.

In the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Player Rankings, Pakistan’s Babar Azam heads the list of batsmen while the Australia pair of Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch are in third and fourth positions respectively. India captain Virat Kohli, a former top-ranked batsman, will be looking to claw back from his eighth position while England’s Jos Buttler will be looking to continue his ODI form and better his 26th position in T20Is.

The predictor function is available here. The next T20I player rankings update will be on 9 July.

Upcoming T20I matches

England vs Australia
27 June – One-off T20I, Birmingham

Ireland vs India
27 June – First T20I, Dublin
29 June – Second T20I, Dublin

Zimbabwe tri-series
1 July – Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, Harare
2 July – Australia vs Pakistan, Harare
3 July – Zimbabwe vs Australia, Harare
4 July – Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, Harare
5 July – Australia vs Pakistan, Harare
6 July – Zimbabwe vs Australia, Harare
8 July – Final, Harare

England vs India
3 July – First T20I, Manchester
6 July – Second T20I, Cardiff
8 July – Third T20I, Bristol

MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings (as of 26 June):

*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 26 June):

Batsmen (top 20)

Bowlers (top 20)

All-rounders (top five)

*indicates provisional rating.           ! indicates best rating
For more information on player rankings, please click here

Source: ICC

Photo: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images