Sri Lanka starts the season as number-one ranked T20I side when they meet New Zealand in the one off T20 international at Pallekele Stadium, on Tuesday.

The solitaire T20 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand will launch what will be an interesting couple of months of Twenty20 Internationals.

As many as seven T20Is, featuring most of the top ranked sides, are confirmed to be played across the globe before the turn of the year, and, if Sri Lanka loses in Pallekele, then there can be a change at the top of the table on at least two occasions.

A Sri Lanka win will see them end the year as the number-one ranked T20I side. A defeat for the hosts will give ICC World Twenty20 champions, West Indies, a sniff of the number-one position on the Reliance ICC Championship table for the first time since the launch of the current rankings system in October 2011.

 

Reliance ICC T20I Championship

Rank   Team              Rating

1          Sri Lanka            127

2          West Indies      121

3          India                   120

4          England             118

5          South Africa    117

6          Pakistan            116

7          Australia          108

8          New Zealand     97

9          Bangladesh        85

10        Ireland              82

11        Zimbabwe         44