Australia vs India: How the T20I series result will affect the team rankings?

Australia and India will renew their rivalry down under in the first of the three-match T20I series at the Gabba in Brisbane. The visitors will be keen on winning the contest and rightly so as they are being termed as the favourites this time around. Australian cricket is in a mess at the moment and are coming off a 3-0 loss to Pakistan and then went down against South Africa at home as well.

India are currently at the second position in the ICC T20I rankings only behind their arch-rivals Pakistan by a massive 11 points. Both the Asian teams are in great form this year in the format and it is reflecting in the rankings as well. However, Australia are at the fourth position with 116 points to their name and have a chance to overhaul England who are third by just two-point difference.

Will India go to the top?

As they are higher in the rankings, the Men in Blue will only gain two points if they manage to clean sweep the Aussies like they did in 2016. In that case, there will still be a nine-point difference between India and Pakistan while the hosts will drop down to the sixth position by losing four points. Even a single defeat would lead to India not gaining any points from this series and will stay at the second position.

Having said that, they will have to be careful of not losing the series by 1-2 or 0-3. If the series ends in Australia’s favour by 1-2, then Virat Kohli and his men will lose two rating points while Australia will leap up to the third spot with 119 points. If the Aaron Finch-led side manage to inflict a whitewash on the tourists, the chances of which look very bleak at the moment, then Australia will come ever so close to India as they will gain six points while the opponents will lose 4, and the two teams will be separated only by a solitary point.

If one of the matches get abandoned due to rain and the series ends in a draw, there will be no changes in the rankings while India will lose one and Australia will gain one point each. After the series opener in Brisbane, the action shifts to Melbourne and Sydney on November 23 and 25.

Here are the detailed scenarios:

1. India 3 – 0 Australia: India will stay at the second position and gain two points to reach 129. Australia will lose four points and slip to sixth spot.

2. India 2 – 1 Australia: India will stay at 127 points while the hosts will lose one rating point and both the teams will hold on to their current rankings.

3. India 1 – 2 Australia: India will lose a couple of rating points to come down to 125 while the Aussies will climb to the third position overhauling England.

4. India 1 – 1 Australia: India will lose one point and their opponents will gain a point.

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