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Rediff ODI rankings: India still on top

Last updated on: August 15, 2009 23:17 IST

We've had a curious month of ODI cricket. Bangladesh (22.04) crushed what was probably at best a West Indies A team in West Indies, and Sri Lanka (54.76) suddenly switched off after winning the home ODI series against Pakistan (45.08).

India (68.56), however, continue to top the Rediff ODI Rankings, with South Africa (64.66) and Australia (62.35) behind. India's acid test will be the Champions Trophy next month in South Africa.

Table A shows the current ODI rankings.

TABLE A: CURRENT ODI RANKINGS (as on August 14, 2009)
Team WI TI ODI RBI=
WI * 0.80 + TI * 0.20
diff: 7.7.09 -> 14.8.09 Ranking
India 60.70 100.00 68.56 +2.56 1
South Africa 62.07 75.00 64.66 -0.80 2
Australia 65.44 50.00 62.35 -1.97 3
New Zealand 54.99 62.50 56.49 -0.21 4
Sri Lanka 47.63 83.33 54.76 +3.41 5
England 46.69 75.00 52.35 +0.05 6
Pakistan 50.10 25.00 45.08 +0.30 7
West Indies 36.78 0.00 29.42 -0.95 8
Bangladesh 16.83 42.86 22.04 +6.50 9
Zimbabwe 14.66 0.00 11.73 +0.55 10

The corresponding Reliance Mobile ICC ODI rankings (as on August 12, 2009) are South Africa (127), India (126), Australia (119), England (111), New Zealand (110), Pakistan (109), Sri Lanka (104), West Indies (78), Bangladesh (56) and Zimbabwe (24).

The real difference between South Africa (126.67) and India (126.38) is just about 0.3, but South Africa have had a more favourable rounding off.

Details

The Rediff ODI rating, now published regularly over the last seven years, is a judicious combination of every team's weighted index (WI) and tournament index (TI).

The WI, based on the most recent ODI encounters between every pair of teams as shown in Table B, is essentially a weighted average that considers the 'opposition strength' (because wins against strong opponents must be rewarded more) and the 'home-away-neutral' factors (because teams usually win more at home, and lose more playing 'away').

The TI factors in a team's performance in tournaments and series (and thereby seeks to better reward wins in 'big' matches).

TABLE B: ODI SCORECARD (as on August 14, 2009; used to compute WI)
 
  Aus Ban Eng Ind NZ Pak RSA SL WI Zim
Australia   H  
  A  
N
    3 / 3 
  3 / 3 
3 / 4
  3 / 6 
  4 / 7 
2 / 2
  2.5/6 
  4.5/7 
1.5 / 2
  2.5/5 
  0 / 3 
2 / 2
  4 / 5 
  0 / 0 
3 / 5
1 / 5
  2 / 5 
2 / 2
3 / 4
  3 / 5 
4 / 4
  2.5/3 
5 / 5
3 / 5
  3.5/4 
4 / 4
0 / 0
Bangladesh   H  
  A  
N
  0 / 3  
  0 / 3 
1 / 4
    0 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 1
  0 / 3 
0 / 0
1 / 3
  0 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 3
  0 / 4 
0 / 6
0 / 2
  0 / 3 
  0 / 2 
1 / 2
  1 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 4
  0.5/3 
  3 / 3 
0 / 2
  2 / 4 
  5 / 9 
1 / 1
England   H  
  A  
N
  3 /7 
  3 / 6 
0 / 2
  3 / 3 
  3 / 3 
1 / 1
    4 / 7 
0 / 5
0 / 2
  1.5/5 
  1.5/5 
2 / 5
  2.5/5 
2 / 5
1 / 1
  4 / 4 
  2 / 7 
0 / 1
  0 / 5 
  3 / 5 
3 / 5
  2 / 2 
  3/5 
1 / 1
  1.5/3 
  4 / 4 
1 / 1
India   H  
  A  
N
  2.5/7 
  3.5/6 
0.5 / 2
  0 / 0 
  3 / 3 
2 / 3
  5/ 5 
  3 / 7 
2 / 2
    1.5/3 
  3.5/5 
1 / 3
  3 / 5 
  5 / 7 
2 / 4
  2 / 4 
0 / 4
2 / 3
  2 / 3 
  4 / 5 
3.5/ 6
  3 / 5 
  2.5 / 4 
3 / 4
  3 / 5 
  2 / 2 
4 / 4
New Zealand   H  
  A  
N
  3 / 3 
  2.5/5 
0 / 2
3 / 3
  3 / 3 
3 / 3
3.5/5
  3.5/5 
3 / 5
 1.5/5  
  1.5/3 
2 / 3
    4 / 5 
  0 / 5 
1 / 1
  5 / 6 
  1/3 
2 / 2
  2/4  
  0 / 0 
0 / 2
  3 / 5 
  2.5/6 
3 / 4
  1 / 3 
  2 / 2 
1 / 1
Pakistan   H  
  A  
N
  0 / 0 
  1 / 5 
2 / 5
  6 / 6 
  4 / 4 
2 / 2
  3 / 5 
  2.5/5 
0 / 1
  2 / 7 
  2 / 5 
2 / 4
  5 / 5 
  1 / 5 
0 / 1
    2 / 5 
  1 / 4 
0 / 1
  1 / 3 
  2/5 
2 / 3
3 / 4
3 / 4
3 / 3
  5 / 5 
  5 / 5 
3 / 3
South Africa   H  
  A  
N
  3 /5 
4 / 5
0 / 2
  2 /2 
3 / 3
1 / 2
5 / 7
  0 / 4 
1 / 1
4 / 4
  2/ 4 
1 / 3
  2/3 
  1 / 6 
0 / 2
  3 / 4 
  3 / 5 
1 / 1
    4.5/6 
  0 / 5 
4 / 6
5/5
  6 / 6 
0 / 1
  3 / 3 
  3 / 3 
3 / 3
Sri Lanka   H  
  A  
N
  2 / 5 
  1 / 4 
0 / 4
  3 / 3 
  2 / 3 
4 / 4
  2 / 5 
  5 / 5 
2 / 5
  1 / 5 
  1 / 3 
2.5 / 6
  0 / 0 
  2 / 4 
2 / 2
  3/5 
  2 / 3 
1 / 3
  5 / 5 
  1.5/6 
2 / 6
    1 / 2 
  0.5/3 
1 / 1
  2 / 2 
  5 / 5 
2 / 2
West Indies   H  
  A  
N
0 / 5
  0.5/3 
2 / 5
0 / 3
  2.5/3 
2 / 2
  2/5 
  0 / 2 
0 / 1
  1.5 / 4 
  2 / 5 
1 / 4
  3.5/6 
  2 / 5 
1 / 4
1 / 4
1 / 4
0 / 3
  0 / 6 
0/5
1 / 1
  2.5/3 
 1 / 2 
0 / 1
    6.5/7 
  3 / 4 
1 / 1
Zimbabwe   H  
  A  
N
  0 / 4 
  0.5/4 
0 / 0
  4 / 9 
  2 / 4 
0 / 1
  0 / 4 
  1.5/3 
0 / 1
  0 / 2 
  2 / 5 
0 / 4
  0 / 2 
  2 / 3 
0 / 1
  0 / 5 
  0 / 5 
0 / 3
  0 / 3 
  0 / 3 
0 / 3
  0 / 5 
  0 / 2 
0 / 2
  1 / 4 
  0.5/7 
0 / 1
 

The TI is currently based on a time 'window' spanning the last 12-13 months; i.e. the period August 2008 to August 2009 (see Table C).

TABLE C: TOURNAMENT POINTS TALLY (as on August 14, 2009; used to compute TI)
Team E vs SA
Aug-
Sep 08
A vs B
Aug-
Sep 08
B vs NZ
Oct 08
SA vs B
Nov 08
WI vs
P
Nov 08
I vs E
Nov 08
Z vs SL
Nov 08
NZ vs WI
Dec 08-
Jan 09
Tri-Nation
Jan 09
B vs Z
Jan 09
P vs SL
Jan 09
A vs SA
Jan 09
SL vs I
Jan-
Feb 09
A vs NZ
Feb 09
NZ vs I
Mar 09
WI vs E
Mar-
Apr 09
SA vs A
Apr 09
P vs A
Apr-
May 09
E vs WI
May 09
WI vs I
Jun-
Jul 09
WI vs B
Jul 09
SL vs P
Jul-
Aug 09
Score TI
Australia   1 / 1                   0 / 1   0.5 / 1     0 / 1 1 / 1         2.5 / 5 50.00
B'desh   0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1         1 / 2 1 / 1                     1 / 1   3 / 7 42.86
England 1 / 1         0 / 1                   1 / 1     1 / 1       3 / 4 75.00
India           1 / 1             1 / 1   1 / 1         1 / 1     4 / 4 100.00
New Zealand     1 / 1         1 / 1           0.5/1 0 / 1               2.5 / 4 62.50
Pakistan         1 / 1           0 / 1             0 / 1       0 / 1 1 / 4 25.00
South Africa 0 / 1     1 / 1               1 / 1         1 / 1           3 / 4 75.00
Sri Lanka             1 / 1   2 / 2   1 / 1   0 / 1                 1 / 1 5 / 6 83.33
West Indies         0 / 1     0 / 1               0 / 1     0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1   0 / 6 0.00
Z'babwe             0 / 1   0 / 2 0 / 1                         0 / 4 0.00

There's a lot of ODI cricket coming up: Zimbabwe continue their series against Bangladesh, England host a 7-match ODI home series against Australia, India join New Zealand in Sri Lanka for a tri-series ... and then there's the Champions Trophy starting immediately thereafter in South Africa.

M J Manohar Rao and Srinivas Bhogle