The International Cricket Council today unveiled an expanded MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings table with 80 teams who will now be able to gauge their progress in a format recognised by the world body as the vehicle for the growth of the game.

Pakistan consolidate position at the top with teams from all five regions also ranked in the most accessible form of the game

Teams like Austria, Botswana, Luxembourg and Mozambique are among the sides figuring in the first men’s T20I ranking table that features all Members meeting the criteria of having played six matches against other ICC members since May 2016.

The move to expand the table follows ICC’s decision last year that all men’s T20 matches between Members from 1 January 2019 will be classified as internationals. As with the ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings, which were launched in October 2018, teams will need to play six matches against other teams in the previous three to four years to remain in the rankings table.

The qualification process for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which is underway includes 58 T20I matches across five regional finals is likely to mean significant movements on the rankings over the coming months. The first final was held in Papua New Guinea last month whilst the Africa final in Uganda (19-24 May), the Europe final in Guernsey (15-19 June), the Asia final in Singapore (22-28 July) and the Americas final in the USA (19-25 August) are still to come.

India are now placed fifth in the Men's T20I rankings table

Six of these teams will join hosts UAE, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and Zimbabwe in the global qualifier in what will be another chance to improve their standings on the table as they try to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have consolidated their position at the top of the table, which has a wider spread of points to accommodate the additional teams. Pakistan, ICC T20 World Cup champions in 2009, are now on 286 points while the next four teams are within two points of each other – South Africa (262), England (261), Australia (261) and India (260).

South Africa and India have swapped positions two and five in the expanded table, whose launch coincides with the annual rankings update in which series results from 2015-16 are removed and outcomes from 2016-17 and 2017-18 are weighted at 50 per cent.

In other significant changes, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have moved up one place each to seventh and eighth positions, respectively, with the West Indies going down to ninth position. In what will be big news for their passionate fans, Nepal have moved from 14th to 11th position while Namibia have grabbed 20th position.

MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings (as on 3 May)

Rank Team Points 1 Pakistan 286 2 South Africa 262 3 England 261 4 Australia 261 5 India 260 6 New Zealand 254 7 Afghanistan 241 8 Sri Lanka 227 9 Windies 226 10 Bangladesh 220 11 Nepal 212 12 Scotland 199 13 Zimbabwe 192 14 Netherlands 187 15 Ireland 182 16 UAE 181 17 PNG 172 18 Oman 155 19 Hong Kong 152 20 Namibia 141 21 Qatar 129 22 Saudi Arabia 121 23 Singapore 118 24 Denmark 116 25 Canada 111 26 Jersey 106 27 Kuwait 104 28 Ghana 100 29 Kenya 95 30 Botswana 93 31 USA 84 32 Austria 73 33 Malaysia 73 34 Guernsey 68 35 Uganda 68 36 Germany 64 37 Sweden 58 38 Tanzania 56 39 Nigeria 55 40 Luxembourg 55 41 Spain 53 42 Philippines 48 43 France 45 44 Belize 42 45 Belgium 40 46 Peru 40 47 Bahrain 37 48 Mexico 36 49 Fiji 35 50 Samoa 34 51 Vanuatu 33 52 Panama 32 53 Japan 32 54 Costa Rica 32 55 Thailand 31 56 Argentina 31 57 Hungary 30 58 Mozambique 29 59 Chile 25 60 Malawi 25 61 Israel 25 62 Bhutan 23 63 Finland 22 64 South Korea 22 65 Isle of Man 21 66 Malta 14 67 Bulgaria 14 68 Sierra Leone 12 69 Brazil 12 70 Czech Republic 9 71 St Helena 9 72 Maldives 8 73 Gibraltar 4 74 Myanmar 3 75 Indonesia 0 76 China 0 77 Gambia 0 78 Swaziland 0 79 Rwanda 0 80 Lesotho 0

*Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Cameroon and Bermuda have also played matches but not enough to be on the T20I points table

(Developed by David Kendix)