Shikhar Dhawan enters, at the top

This analysis will be done at suitable points during the World Cup 2015 so that the readers can see the way the Performance tables evolve. As more matches get played the top performance mosaic changes and readers can identify with what happened in the past few days. The qualifying bar for inclusion moves higher as more matches get played.

Sri Lanka almost slipped on the Afghan banana peel. They managed to avoid a disaster through a top class innings by a veteran and two supporting acts by younger players. And then India had an almost perfect day at the MCG, swamping South Africa. They batted with a lot of flair and conviction and then bowled and fielded outstandingly to tell the rest of the world that they are serious candidates for inclusion in the list containing the quartet of potential winners.

Top Batting performances in WC 2015: in 12 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Batsman	For	Vs	Runs	Balls
1	460	2015	3610	S Dhawan	India	Saf	137	146
2	397	2015	3601	DA Miller	South Africa	Zim	138*	92
3	386	2015	3600	JWA Taylor	England	Aus	98*	90
4	370	2015	3600	AJ Finch	Australia	Eng	135	128
5	363	2015	3607	BB McCullum	New Zealand	Eng	77	25
6	326	2015	3609	DPMD Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	Afg	100	120
7	314	2015	3601	JP Duminy	South Africa	Zim	115*	100
8	290	2015	3602	V Kohli	India	Pak	107	126
9	268	2015	3603	LMP Simmons	West Indies	Ire	102	84
10	262	2015	3610	AM Rahane	India	Saf	79	60

Shikhar Dhawan's huge century moves to the top position in the batting table, with 460 rating points. It was a well-deserved placement. He paced the innings very well. The bowling attack's quality was a significant factor in this exalted position. Mahela Jayawardene's hundred has come in the sixth place. It would have been ranked higher if he had finished the job on hand. There is a fair bit of difference between scores of 125* and 100, while chasing 232.

It can be seen that the fifties are making way for the hundreds. Now the fifties have to be spectacular and special, such as those of James Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Ajinkya Rahane, to be in the top ten. Rahane's wonderful innings of 79 is in tenth position but is likely to drop off in the next table. It would, however, take a very special innings to move Dhawan off the top position.

Top Bowling performances in WC 2015: in 12 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Bowler	For	Vs	Analysis
1	597	2015	3607	TG Southee	New Zealand	Eng	9.0 - 0 - 33 - 7
2	455	2015	3600	MR Marsh	Australia	Eng	9.0 - 0 - 33 - 5
3	429	2015	3602	Sohail Khan	Pakistan	Ind	10.0 - 0 - 55 - 5
4	321	2015	3608	JE Taylor	West Indies	Pak	7.0 - 1 - 15 - 3
5	311	2015	3600	ST Finn	England	Aus	10.0 - 0 - 71 - 5
6	286	2015	3602	Mohammed Shami	India	Pak	9.0 - 1 - 35 - 4
7	221	2015	3605	Mashrafe Mortaza	Bangladesh	Afg	9.0 - 2 - 20 - 3
8	211	2015	3603	GH Dockrell	Ireland	Win	10.0 - 0 - 50 - 3
9	201	2015	3604	JH Davey	Scotland	Nzl	7.0 - 0 - 40 - 3

There is almost no change to the bowling table. In the two matches played today, there was no exciting bowling performance. No one captured more than 3 wickets. Hamid Hassan did well but the team did not win. Another wicket or two was needed, both for the upset win and inclusion in the table here.

Top Player performances in WC 2015: in 12 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Player	For	Vs	Runs	Balls	Analysis
1	506	2015	3600	MR Marsh	Australia	Eng	23	20	9.0-0-33-5
2	353	2015	3608	AD Russell	West Indies	Pak	42*	13	8.0-2-33-3
3	297	2015	3606	SC Williams	Zimbabwe	Uae	76*	65	8.0-0-43-2
4	281	2015	3599	CJ Anderson	New Zealand	Slk	75	46	3.1-0-18-2
5	249	2015	3609	AD Mathews	Sri Lanka	Afg	44	81	7.0-0-41-3
6	248	2015	3605	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	Afg	63	51	8.5-0-43-2

Angelo Mathews had an excellent day against Afghanistan, capturing three wickets and scoring a valuable 40. He comes in only in the fifth position since, like Jayawardene, he did not complete the job on hand.

Top Team performances in WC 2015: in 12 matches played so far

SNo	Rating Pts	Year	ODI#	Team	Own score	Vs	Other score
1	713	2015	3607	New Zealand	125 for 2 in 12.2	Eng	123 for 10 in 33.2
2	691	2015	3610	India	307 for 7 in 50.0	Saf	177 for 10 in 40.2
3	664	2015	3608	West Indies	310 for 6 in 50.0	Pak	160 for 10 in 39.0
4	640	2015	3605	Bangladesh	267 for 10 in 50.0	Afg	162 for 10 in 42.5
5	596	2015	3599	New Zealand	331 for 6 in 50.0	Slk	233 for 10 in 46.1
6	595	2015	3600	Australia	342 for 9 in 50.0	Eng	231 for 10 in 41.5
7	592	2015	3602	India	300 for 7 in 50.0	Pak	224 for 10 in 47.0
8	590	2015	3603	Ireland	307 for 6 in 45.5	Win	304 for 7 in 50.0
9	587	2015	3604	New Zealand	146 for 7 in 24.5	Sco	142 for 10 in 36.2
10	583	2015	3609	Sri Lanka	236 for 6 in 48.2	Afg	232 for 10 in 49.4

New Zealand retains its top position. Closely following in second place is India's dismantling of South Africa's cloak of invincibility. The quality of South African bowling, the margin of win and the ticking of all boxes moved India to the second position. Sri Lanka's tough win is in tenth position but this could be a short stay for this match in this table.

A brief introduction into the methodology of Performance Analysis.

The Batting Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Runs scored, Balls faced, Next highest score (if this is the highest score), % of Team score, Innings status at entry, Bowling quality, Pitch information, Team strengths, Target score in front, Match location, Result and Match importance. These parameters are given appropriate weights. The calculations are done in such a way that Rating points of 1000 would be allotted to a mind-blowing and match-winning score of 200 in 150 balls in a WC final.

The Bowling Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Wickets captured, Quality of batsmen dismissed, Scores at which batsmen were dismissed, Bowling accuracy, Batting quality, Pitch information, Team strengths, Target being defended, Match location, Result and Match importance. The calculations are done in such a way that Rating points of 1000 would be allotted to a magnificent and match-winning analysis of 10-2-15-6 in a WC final.

The Player Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Batting Rating points, Bowling Rating points and the Fielding Rating points, which is a combination of catches and stumpings. There are minimum criteria for batting and bowling stints to ensure that these are genuinely all-round performances.

The Team Performance Ratings analysis takes into account the Result, Margin of win, Resources utilized, Team strengths, Match location and Match importance. The calculations are done in such a way that Rating points of 1000 would be allotted to an overwhelming win by 150 runs or 8 wickets in a WC final.

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