DUBAI, Mar 2: Riding on his splendid run against Sri Lanka recently, India batter Shreyas Iyer has jumped a massive 27 spots in the latest ICC T20I rankings, even as Virat Kohli fell out of the top 10.
India’s recent home series win against Sri Lanka has had major ramifications on the player rankings aiding attacking top-order batter Iyer to make a massive jump to reach the 18th position in the list for batters.
Iyer scored three unbeaten half-centuries during India’s 3-0 win against Sri Lanka in February, with the 27-year-old amassing an impressive 204 runs at a strike rate of 174.
Iyer’s teammate pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar jumped three spots to 17th on the bowler rankings.
Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka scored an impressive 75 in the second game of the series, and he was rewarded with a six-spot rise to ninth on the rankings, while former India captain Kohli – who was rested for the series – dropped five places to 15th.
The other big mover with the bat in T20I cricket this week is Mohammad Waseem of the UAE. His unbeaten century against Ireland in the final of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A, helped him reach the 12th position with the bat. That is the highest T20I ranking by any UAE batter, surpassing Shaiman Anwar’s 13th place achieved in 2017.
Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Kumara’s five wickets in the series with India have lifted him into the top 40 bowlers for the first time.
Other bowlers who enjoyed a successful time at the T20 World Cup Qualifier A include Zahoor Khan of UAE (up 17 places to joint-42nd) and Ireland’s Josh Little (up 27 places to join-49th).
Rohan Mustafa’s successes with bat and ball have enabled him to move up to sixth place among all-rounders, just one place below his best of fifth achieved in February 2020.
The biggest mover on the Test rankings was South African quick Kagiso Rabada, who shot up three places to third following his impressive display against hosts New Zealand.
Rabada managed 10 wickets during the two-match series, with his magnificent haul of 5/60 in the first innings of the second Test helping the Proteas on their way to an important 198-run triumph.
The kiwi duo of Kyle Jamieson (dropped two spots to fifth) and Tim Southee (dropped one spot to sixth) lost ground in the bowler rankings, with Australia captain Pat Cummins and India veteran Ravichandran Ashwin still leading the way.
Marnus Labuschagne remained as the top ranked Test batter, with New Zealander Devon Conway jumping six places to 17th following his 92 in the second innings of the second Test against South Africa.
In the ODI rankings for men, veteran spinner Rashid Khan re-claimed his spot in the top 10 for bowlers following five wickets from the recent three-game series against Bangladesh.
Rashid jumped six spots to ninth, while teammate Mehidy Hasan Miraz dropped two spots to seventh following the series.
Sri Lanka’s Liton Das was the leading run-scorer in the ODI series between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and he is up to a career-best 32nd with the bat.
Trent Boult remained the top ranked ODI bowler, while Pakistan right-hander Babar Azam led the way for batters. (PTI)
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