Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi look to scale the peak of ICC ODI Player Ratings in their disciplines
Ahead of the ODI series between Afghanistan and Ireland that starts on Monday in Belfast, Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who is the top-ranked T20I bowler in the ICC T20I Bowler Rankings, will hope to rise the numero uno position in ODI cricket too. He is currently on 763 points in the ODI circuit. Rashid stands 12 points adrift of the current no. 1 bowler, Jasprit Bumrah. Interestingly, both these bowlers have a career-high rating of 787 points. Khan achieved his high point in ratings during the ODI series against Zimbabwe at Sharjah earlier this year.
Top 20 ODI Bowlers, as they stand on 26 August, 2018:
| Rank | Player | Team | Points | Avge | Eco |
| 1 | Jasprit Bumrah | Ind | 775 | 22.5 | 4.64 |
| 2 | Rashid Khan | Afg | 763 | 14.4 | 3.96 |
| 3 | Hasan Ali | Pak | 742 | 20.88 | 5.21 |
| 4 | Trent Boult | NZ | 699 | 24.63 | 5.09 |
| 5 | Josh Hazlewood | Aus | 696 | 24.27 | 4.72 |
| 6 | Kuldeep Yadav | Ind | 684 | 19.35 | 4.82 |
| 7 | Adil Rashid | Eng | 681 | 30.8 | 5.52 |
| 8 | Kagiso Rabada | SA | 676 | 27.62 | 5.09 |
| 9 | Imran Tahir | SA | 666 | 24.81 | 4.68 |
| 10 | Y. Chahal | Ind | 666 | 23.86 | 4.72 |
| 11 | Chris Woakes | Eng | 643 | 30.77 | 5.5 |
| 12 | Mitchell Starc | Aus | 642 | 20.95 | 4.93 |
| 13 | Mitchell Santner | NZ | 632 | 33.91 | 4.9 |
| 14 | Moeen Ali | Eng | 621 | 45.08 | 5.09 |
| 15 | Akshar Patel | Ind | 615 | 31.31 | 4.43 |
| 16 | Mohammad Nabi | Afg | 611 | 31.95 | 4.29 |
| 17 | M. Rahman | Ban | 609 | 20.01 | 4.71 |
| 18 | Pat Cummins | Aus | 607 | 28.45 | 5.38 |
| 19 | M. Mortaza | Ban | 606 | 30.87 | 4.78 |
| 20 | Matt Henry | NZ | 606 | 24.59 | 5.57 |
All-rounder Mohammad Nabi would also want to boost his ratings as he stands at no. 2 in the ICC ODI All-rounders Rankings. The number 1 all-rounder is Shakib Al Hasan who stands at 362 points and is clearly ahead of Nabi by 39 points. It would be tough to break that barrier in the near-term for Nabi but he would be inspired to break the mark by his own career-high rating of 349 point. He achieved his personal-best against Ireland in Afghanistan’s ODI series against them in 2017 in Greater Noida.
Top five ODI All-Rounders, as they stand on 26 August, 2018:
| Rank | Player | Team | Points |
| 1 | Shakib Al Hasan | Ban | 362 |
| 2 | Mohammad Nabi | Afg | 323 |
| 3 | M. Hafeez | Pak | 322 |
| 4 | Mitchell Santner | NZ | 317 |
| 5 | Angelo Mathews | SL | 305 |
Currently, no Afghanistan batsman is in the top 20 ODI Batsmen’s list.
Top 20 ODI Batsmen, as they stand on 26 August, 2018:
| Rank | Player | Team | Points | Avge |
| 1 | Virat Kohli | Ind | 911 | 58.2 |
| 2 | Babar Azam | Pak | 825 | 54.8 |
| 3 | Joe Root | Eng | 818 | 51.61 |
| 4 | Rohit Sharma | Ind | 806 | 44.98 |
| 5 | David Warner | Aus | 803 | 43.43 |
| 6 | Ross Taylor | NZ | 785 | 46.28 |
| 7 | Quinton de Kock | SA | 781 | 45.25 |
| 8 | Kane Williamson | NZ | 778 | 46.87 |
| 9 | Shikhar Dhawan | Ind | 770 | 45.72 |
| 10 | Jonny Bairstow | Eng | 769 | 50.3 |
| 11 | Faf du Plessis | SA | 766 | 44.4 |
| 12 | Tamim Iqbal | Ban | 737! | 36.23 |
| 13 | Martin Guptill | NZ | 731 | 42.99 |
| 14 | Hashim Amla | SA | 729 | 49.65 |
| 15 | MS Dhoni | Ind | 714 | 51.25 |
| 16 | Fakhar Zaman | Pak | 713 | 76.07 |
| 17 | Aaron Finch | Aus | 706 | 38.19 |
| 18 | Jos Buttler | Eng | 701 | 40.35 |
| 19 | Steve Smith | Aus | 675 | 41.84 |
| 20 | Travis Head | Aus | 670 | 37 |
In the ICC ODI Team Rankings, 10th placed team Afghanistan are on 63 points and 12th positioned Ireland are on 38 points. Afghanistan could gain a further two points if they win the ODI series by a margin of 3-0 and Ireland could move to 48 points if they manage to beat Afghanistan by the same margin.
However, there will be no change in the ranking positions with Afghanistan and Ireland remaining in 10th and 12 positions, respectively, in any scenario, as a perusal of the table below would indicate. The ODI team rankings, unlike the Test rankings, are updated after each match.
ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 26 August, before the Ireland-Afghanistan series):
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | England | 127 |
| 2 | India | 121 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 112 |
| 4 | South Africa | 110 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 104 |
| 6 | Australia | 100 |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 92 |
| 8 | Sri Lanka | 80 |
| 9 | West Indies | 69 |
| 10 | Afghanistan | 63 |
| 11 | Zimbabwe | 53 |
| 12 | Ireland | 38 |
| 13 | Scotland | 33 |
| 14 | UAE | 18 |
ICC Player rankings are calculated through a points-based system which is worked out by doing a series of calculations which results in a moving average. Players are rated on a scale of 0 to 1000 points. If a player’s performance is improving on his past record, his points go up and vice versa. The value of each player’s performance is calculated using an objective algorithm which is based on format-specific factors which are all pre-programmed, thus denying any human interference.