South Africa's fiery seamer Duanne Olivier took five wickets as the hosts powered into the ascendancy on day two of the third and final Test against an outgunned Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday.
South Africa need seven more wickets to win the third Test at the Wanderers and sweep the series after Pakistan were 153 for three wickets at the close of play on Sunday, still 228 runs short of a daunting winning target.
Debutant Aiden Markram suffered a horror run out just three runs shy of a century as South Africa amassed 298 for one on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh on Thursday.
The number one ODI status will be on the line when second-placed India and table-toppers South Africa clash in a six-match series, starting in Durban on Thursday.
Virat Kohli (fourth), Shikhar Dhawan (seventh) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (ninth) have also maintained their respective positions in the ICC ODI batting chart.
Bangladesh continued their giant-killing exploits with a nine-wicket victory over South Africa in Wednesday's rain-hit final one-day international to clinch the three-match series 2-1.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2021's 50 Most Valuable Players.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2021's 50 Most Valuable Players up to Game 11.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin surged to the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after a superb outing in the first Test against the West Indies in Antigua which the visiting side won by an innings and 92 runs.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara eye top 10 places while Ravindra Jadeja jumps to career-best third position among Test all-rounders.
South Africa lost both openers but were still 230 runs ahead of Bangladesh at the close on the third day of the first Test when bad light stopped play on Saturday.
Reigning champion India will be bidding to gain further momentum and become only the third side in World Cup history to successfully defend its title after West Indies in 1975 and 1979 and Australia, who won the coveted prize three times in succession between 1999 and 2007.
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia's Ryan Harris has moved up two places to second following his six wickets against India in the fourth Test at MCG.
India retained the No 1 spot in the latest Reliance ODI team rankings while Virat Kohli maintained the number two position with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni static at the seventh place in the batting chart released in Dubai.
Anderson becomes number-one ranked Test bowler
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify the Most Valuable Players in the IPL so far.
In terms of days, Dale Steyn has spent 2,320 days at the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, the most by any bowler since World War II.
World champions India have consolidated their top rank on the ICC ODI Team Rankings after sweeping the series against Sri Lanka, which concluded in Ranchi on Sunday.
Mayank Markande tops the Paisa Vasool Index at IPL-11. Who are the others?
Off-spinner R Ashwin, who has been phenomenal in home conditions, has made it to the Test team as the 12th man, while pacer Mohammed Shami has been included in the ODI team.
India's T20 World Cup challenge has ended. But it is likely that Virat Kohli (MVPI of 338) will go on to become the tournament's most valuable player because he enjoys a lead of 109 runs over second-placed Joe Root (229).
Punjab Kings, who had paid Rs 10.75 crore for Maxwell in the previous auction, had released the 32-year-old following the 2020 edition in which he made 108 runs in 13 games at 15.42.
India's batting sensation Virat Kohli, named player of the tournament, is also the most valuable player of World T20 2016. With a fifty and two wickets, England's Joe Root is just behind him.
Te MVP of IPL 11, after Week 4, is young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.
AB de Villiers is leading the Paisa Vasool Index at IPL-11 ahead of Indians KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu.
Virat Kohli dropped a position to 11th leaving India with no batsmen in the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, in the latest update of the ICC Player Rankings released by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji analyse Week 1 in Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji figure out who are the most valuable players after the league phase of the World Cup intheir latest update.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present the best performing players in IPL-11 in Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings.
He could be overtaken by Sunrisers Hyderabad Captain Kane Williamson (760) or Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Sunil Narine (703) or even the intrepid Ambati Rayadu (675) of the Chennai Super Kings.
The peaks Prithvi Shaw scaled on the first day of his Test career in numbers, via Rajneesh Gupta.
In-form Virat Kohli leads the MVP rankings in the IPL with a MVPI of 1062 but David Warner, enjoying a sensational run with the bat and currently at third with a MVPI of 878, has the RCB captain in his sights.
After Week 4 in the IPL-11, which players offer the best value for money?
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player ratings for the ongoing IPL 8
Mitchell Starc was the Player of the Tournament, but he ranks only 5th on Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player ratings list, revealing how this World Cup was so much in the batsmen's favour.
A look at the Kolkata Knight Riders's IPL record over the years.
Rishabh Pant of the Delhi Daredevils, with a most valuable player index of 897, is the most valuable player of IPL 11.
K L Rahul, the kingpin of the KXIP batting, is second (MVPI: 601), followed by Sunrisers Captain Kane Williamson (543). Jos Buttler, after his match-winning batting for Rajasthan Royals on Friday night, is just 4 'runs' behind at 539, and M S Dhoni is fifth with 538 'runs'.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji analyse Week 3 of IPL-11 in Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings.
