Pakistan skipper Babar Azam managed to retain his top spot in the latest International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I batter rankings, as Indian stars made giant strides.
In the latest rankings released Wednesday, India’s Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were among the biggest movers as the race for the top ranking hots up ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
India defeated West Indies 4-1 in the recently concluded T20I series, with Iyer and Pant playing important roles in the triumph.
Iyer jumped six places to 19th overall batter rankings after hitting an impressive half-ton during the final match of the series in Florida, while Pant finished the series as the equal second leading run-scorer on 115 runs, with his quickfire 44 in the fourth match seeing the left-hander jump seven places to 59th.
Currently, Babar is placed at the top with 818 rating points, however, India’s Suryakumar Yadav is not far behind as he has 805 rating points. Last week, he stood at 816 points, just two points shy of Babar.
Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza has risen in all three lists of MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings after a stellar show that helped his team take a winning 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series against Bangladesh.
Raza has moved up 10 slots to 29th position among batters and is now 79th among bowlers, a result of two unbeaten centuries and four wickets in the two matches, said a press release.
His performances also see him move up seven places to a career-best fourth position among all-rounders.
Bangladesh’s Liton Das was one place above Raza in the batters’ list after gaining one slot while Taijul Islam has progressed nine slots to 71st among bowlers.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, South Africa’s Reeza Hendricks is the main gainer, moving up to 13th position with knocks of 74 and 42 in a 2-0 series win over Ireland.
Shreyas Iyer is up six places to 19th after scoring a 40-ball 64 while opening the innings in the last match of the series against the West Indies that India won 4-1, while Ireland’s Paul Stirling (up one place to 23rd) and New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell (up 23 places to 38th) have also made notable progress.
South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj is up 10 places to 18th among bowlers, while fast bowlers Lungi Ngidi (23rd) of South Africa and Lockie Ferguson of New Zealand (31st) are others to move up.
India spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav have gained big. Bishnoi has galloped 50 places to take 44th position with six wickets in two matches while Yadav has leapt 58 places to 87th with a three-wicket haul in the last match.—APP
