LAHORE: New Zea­land and Pakistan will have an opportunity to achieve number one T20 ranking for the first time when they lock horns in the three-match series in Auckland on January 15, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday.

New Zealand, following its 2-0 win over Sri Lanka, has joined Pakistan on 114 points. The side which wins all the three matches in the forthcoming series will move ahead of the West Indies in number one spot, and the losing side will drop to eighth position.

The side that wins the series 2-1 will leapfrog South Africa into fifth position.

Afghanistan, which won its two-match series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah on Sunday, is now sitting on 80 points in ninth position after gaining three points.

Zimbabwe, in contrast, has stayed in 14th position but has slipped to 50 points after conceding three points. The ICC T20 championship table is extremely tight with only eight points separating the top eight sides.

With a number of Twenty20 Internationals to be played in the lead up to the ICC 2016 World Twenty20 in India, there is likely to be plenty of reshuffling at the top of the order.

ICC T20 team rankings:

1. West Indies 118 points; 2. Australia 118; 3. Sri Lanka 118; 4. England 117; 5. South Africa 115; 6. Pakistan 114; 7. New Zealand 114; 8. India 110; 9. Afghanistan 80; 10. Bangladesh 69; 11. Scotland 66; 12. Hong Kong 61; 13. Netherlands 61; 14. Zimbabwe 50; 15. Ireland 42.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2016