The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup is two-thirds of the way through the group stage. Here’s how the standings are shaping up as of Wednesday evening.
1. India – At 6-0, India is the only team that is undefeated in the World Cup. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have formed perhaps the best batter duo in this year’s tournament. With steady contributions from KL Rahul, the India batting order has been able to flex their muscles against the rest of the pack. The team last played on Sunday, defeating England by a healthy 100 runs (229 to 129).
2. South Africa – South Africa has been perhaps the best all-around unit in this year’s tournament. The nation’s +2.032 net run rate is tops in the Cup, indicating the team has the best in terms of outscoring their opponents. Keshav Maharaj has emerged as the leader of a quartet of South Africa bowlers that have shone during the games, as Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi and Marco Jansen have all performed well to lead the nation to a 5-1 record. Quinton de Kock has scored the most runs of all batters in the games (431).
3. New Zealand – New Zealand is tied with Australia in terms of record (4-2) but has the standings advantage because of their superior net run rate. Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway have provided a majority of runs for the batting side. Mitchell Santner has led the bowlers, knocking down 14 wickets and bowling the third-best inning (5/59) by a bowler in a game this tournament.
4. Australia – With the group stage to conclude today, fourth-place Australia would be the final team to advance to the next stage of the tourney. The ODI ranks the Aussies as the second-best team in the Cup behind only India. David Warner has been a monster batting for Australia and has scored the second-most runs in the tournament (413). Leading the bowlers has been Adam Zampa, who is tied for first in the tournament with 16 wickets knocked down.
5. Pakistan – The ODI has Pakistan as the third-best team playing in the Cup, but they would just miss out on a shot at the championship were the standings to become official today. 23-year-old Shaheen Shah Afridi has emerged as the team’s top bowler; he’s knocked down 16 wickets (first) and has bowled the best inning (5/54) of any bowler this season. He is currently the 11th-ranked bowler in the games but has been as high as fourth in his career. Mohammad Rizwan is fifth in the games with 359 runs scored.
6. Afghanistan – Afghanistan has outperformed their ODI ranking of 9th thanks largely to the performance of their bowlers. Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad all rank in the top-15 bowlers in economy rate, meaning the three are amongst the best at allowing the least runs to score per over bowled. Though the team may lack a top-tier bowler to match the stars on other teams, solid contributions from Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran have led the team to a 3-3 record.
7. Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka is 2-4, though not because of a lack of runs; Sadeera Samarawickrama ranks in the top-10 in runs scored (331). He is joined in the top-15 by teammates Pathum Nissanka (289) and captain Kusal Mendis (268). For the bowlers, Dilshan Madushanka has led a unit that has been nothing more than average during the games.
8. Netherlands – The Netherlands are hoping to advance out of the group stage for the first time in the nation’s history, though it doesn’t appear this will be their year. Bowlers Bas de Leede (11) and Paul van Meekeren (10) have both knocked down double-digit wickets throughout the games with Aryan Dutt chipping in eight. The team has had trouble generating runs throughout the games; they’re the only team to not have a bowler rank in the top-25 in runs scored.
9. Bangladesh – Team captain and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing showing in the Cup for Bangladesh. He’s the top-ranked all-rounder in the games and in his career has ranked as high as No. 1 for batters and No. 13 for bowlers. Aside from the captain, Mahmudullah Riyad and Liton Das have fared well leading the Bangladesh bowlers. Shoriful Islam has knocked down eight wickets to lead an uninspiring unit of Bangladesh.
10. England – At 1-5, England has the worst net run rate (-1.652) of all the team’s in the Cup. Dawid Malan has emerged as the face of the English bowlers, scoring 236; his 140 runs in one inning ranks third among highest scoring innings during the games. Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid both qualify for the top-25 in economy rate amongst bowlers, though the remainder of the team has failed to step up and give the country a chance to make a run.
