Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers' impressive defence of modest totals continued as the visitors pulled off a 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals on a tricky pitch to claim the top spot
Carlos Brathwaite's inclusion will lift the spirits of Delhi Daredevils.
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.
"I always believed that I would get another chance. I didn't know how to be honest as the Indian pacers were doing well over the past three to four years. I was getting inspired watching them, to be honest."
Besides preparing for the 16-team World Twenty20 2016, India and South Africa will also aim to improve their positions on the ICC T20I Team Rankings.
Rohit Sharma's 104 at Edgbaston helped India to secure the win they needed to guarantee a place in the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup.
Chasing a target of 172, Bangladesh were bowled out for a paltry 98 in 19.1 overs to lose by 73 runs in a lop-sided game, in the ICC World Twenty20 match in Mirpur.
IMAGES from day 3 of the 1st Test between Bangladesh and India played in Chottogram on Friday.
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Eden Gardens to begin their Indian Premier League (IPL) defense on an emphatic note.
Surprised at the call up, Kolkata Knight Riders' South African recruit Johan Botha, who was brought in as replacement for injured Aussie Chris Lynn, said he's fresh after a three-week break and ready for the rigours of IPL-8.
India go into the quarter-final against their neighbours as favourites, but will certainly not take them too lightly, not wanting to suffer the same fate as they did in the 2007 edition.
Bangladesh staved off a late fightback to beat England by 15 runs and enter the quarter-finals of the World Cup from Group B in Adelaide on Monday. They joined New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka in the last eight stage.
Sri Lanka veterans Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara smashed imperious centuries to punish a wasteful Bangladesh.
The India right-hander has 862 points in his kitty, still 25 points behind AB de Villiers of South Africa, who is heading the list.
Rohit Sharma will be back in his familiar opening position with an aim to get some quality batting practice when India take on Bangladesh in their final warm-up game before the Champions Trophy opener against Pakistan.
India captain Virat Kohli reclaimed the top batting spot, while Australia's pace ace Josh Hazlewood has achieved the number-one position in the bowlers' rankings for the first time in his career in the latest MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings.
Explosive all-rounder Ben Stokes and relentless run accumulator Steve Smith could not be more different in their approaches to the game but both roared back from personally adversity to bestride an extraordinary cricketing year. Virat Kohli and his men top the confused and confusing World Test Championship table with seven wins in as many matches, including their first pink-ball Test against Bangladesh last month. That victory marked their 12th consecutive Test series win at home.
India would be aiming to ensure that a plucky Bangladesh don't run away with the momentum when the two sides clash in the second T20 International, which is facing a cyclonic threat, in Rajkot, on Thursday.
Captain Virat Kohli and opener Murali Vijay pulverised a hapless Bangladesh attack into submission with majestic hundreds as India reached a commanding 356 for three on Day 1 of the one-off Test match.
Suresh Raina has come out in full support of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara overcame occasional discomforts to take India to 86 for one wicket at lunch on the opening day of their one-off Test against Bangladesh at Hyderabad on Thursday.
Ganguly convinced the Bangladesh Cricket Board to agree to a Day/Night Test just a few days before their team was to land in India.
Deepak Chahar is the first Indian bowler ever to hold the record of best bowling figures in any format of international cricket (Test/ODI/T20I), points out Rajneesh Gupta.
India's star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin consolidated his position at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after his match haul of 12 for 167 in the fourth Test against England.
While KKR suffered their heaviest defeat of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, Pune looked to have found their mojo in the business end of the tournament having registered consecutive wins in their last two matches.
Bangladesh teenage spin sensation Mehedi Hasan rocketed into the 33rd position in the rankings for Test bowlers after bowling Bangladesh to their first-ever victory over England on Sunday
Delhi Daredevils will have to learn from the mistakes made in the previous game against table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad
Chennai Super Kings prevailed over a weakened Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs to consolidate their position at the top of the order
Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav sizzled with the ball as two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders rode on its spin attack to advance into the play-offs of the ongoing Indian Premier League with a 22-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Dwayne Smith starred with the ball before Suresh Raina struck a sublime half century to guide Gujarat Lions to a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Kanpur, taking them closer to a spot in the play-offs of the Indian Premier League.
Rohit is currently the highest run-getter in the ongoing World Cup with 544 runs from seven innings that includes four centuries and one fifty.
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.
Tendulkar and Dravid came close to the 900-point mark, but were unable to break the barrier
Ajinkya Rahane has become India's highest-ranked Test batsman in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings after scoring two centuries in the 337 runs victory over South Africa in the fourth and final Test, at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, which gave the home side a 3-0 series triumph.
