India face Australia in a 5-match ODI series with the chance of losing out on their No.1 ranking in ODIs.
Pakistan has an opportunity to gain a place on the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings if it wins its upcoming series against South Africa by 3-2 or better. The five-ODI series will begin in Sharjah on Wednesday 30 October.
Pakistan is currently sitting in sixth position, four ratings points behind South Africa. However, if Pakistan wins the series 3-2, the two sides will swap places, with the Asian side moving into fifth position on 103 ratings points and the Proteas dropping to sixth spot on 102 ratings points.
Conversely, South Africa will move to 107 ratings points if it wins the series 4-1 and will narrow the gap with England and Sri Lanka to just four ratings points. That gap will be trimmed to just one rating point if South Africa sweeps the series.
Bangladesh v New Zealand
New Zealand finds itself in a must-win situation in its three-match series against host Bangladesh that starts in Dhaka on Tuesday.
New Zealand is in seventh position on 89 ratings points while Bangladesh is ranked ninth on 76 ratings points.
If Bangladesh wins the series, it will move to 79 ratings points while New Zealand will slip behind the West Indies into eighth, on 87 ratings. However, if New Zealand wins the series, then it will gain two ratings points and rise to 91 ratings points, while Bangladesh will drop to 75 ratings points after conceding one rating point.
India v Australia
World champion India has been guaranteed the number-one spot after the last two ODIs in the seven-match series against Australia were washed-out. Australia leads the series 2-1 with the final two matches to be played in Nagpur and Bengaluru on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
Australia had entered the series needing to win 6-1 or better to reclaim the number-one spot, which it last held in July 2012.
If Australia manages to win the final two ODIs, it will rise to 119 ratings points while India will finish on 120 ratings points. In sharp contrast, if India wins both matches, it will finish on 123 ratings points while Australia will slide to 114 ratings points – only three ahead of England and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, the upcoming ODI series against Pakistan offers South Africa captain AB de Villiers an opportunity to overtake Hashim Amla at the top of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, thereby regaining the number-one rank.
De Villiers was last ranked number-one in July 2013, and recently overtook Amla for the top spot of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.
Virat Kohli in fourth, MS Dhoni in seventh and Misbah-ul-Haq in eighth are the others inside the top 10 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen likely to be in action in the upcoming ODIs.
Umar Akmal and Suresh Raina in joint 16th, along with Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan in 19th, are also likely to feature in the upcoming ODIs.
Meanwhile, India spinner Ravindra Jadeja will strive to gain sole ownership of the number-one rank on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers. Jadeja shares the position with West Indies’ Sunil Narine, and has the opportunity to claim the number-one position outright for the first time in his career.
Saeed Ajmal in third, Clint McKay in seventh, Mitchell Johnson in eighth, Lonwabo Tsotsobe in ninth and Mohammed Hafeez in tenth are some of the others inside the top 10 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers eyeing an upward move.
Abdur Razzak in 11th, Kyle Mills in 12th, Morne Morkel in 13th, Dale Steyn in 15th, along with Ravichandran Ashwin in 18th, Shakib and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in joint 20th are the other bowlers inside the top 20 of the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI Bowlers who will be seen in action.
Upcoming Fixtures
Bangladesh v New Zealand
29 Oct – 1st ODI, Dhaka (d/n)
31 Oct – 2nd ODI, Dhaka (d/n)
3 Nov – 3rd ODI, Fatullah
India v Australia
30 Oct - 6th ODI, Nagpur (d/n)
2 Nov- 7th ODI, Bengaluru (d/n)
Pakistan v South Africa
30 Oct – 1st ODI, Sharjah (d/n)
1 Nov – 2nd ODI, Dubai (d/n)
6 Nov – 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi (d/n)
8 Nov – 4th ODI, Abu Dhabi (d/n)
11 Nov – 5th ODI, Sharjah (d/n)
Reliance ICC ODI Rankings (as on 28 October, after the fourth India-Australia ODI and before Bangladesh-New Zealand and Pakistan-South Africa ODI Series)
| Rank | Team | Rating | (+/-) |
| 1 | India | 122 | (-1) |
| 2 | Australia | 117 | (+2) |
| 3 | England | 111 | |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 111 | |
| 5 | South Africa | 105 | |
| 6 | Pakistan | 101 | |
| 7 | New Zealand | 89 | |
| 8 | West Indies | 89 | |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 76 | |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 55 | |
| 11 | Ireland | 38 | |
| 12 | Netherlands | 13 | |
| 13 | Kenya | 10 |
