Dubai:Lokesh Rahul leads a pack of India players who have shot up the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings after their team stormed to a 5-0 series win in New Zealand.
Rahul's series topping aggregate of 224 runs has lifted him four places to a career
best-equaling second place while Rohit Sharma (up three places to 10th), Shreyas
Iyer (up 63 places to 55th) and Manish Pandey (up 12 places to 58th) are others
advancing in the latest rankings update that also includes the Pakistan-Bangladesh
series.
There are now three Indians in the top 10 batsmen, as captain Virat Kohli has retained
his ninth position with 105 runs from four matches.
The story is similar for the India bowling attack as Jasprit Bumrah has gained 26 places
to reach 11th position, Yuzvendra Chahal has advanced 10 places to 30th and Shardul
Thakur's eight wickets in the series have lifted him 34 places to 57th position. Navdeep
Saini (up 25 places to 71st) and Ravindra Jadeja (up 34 places to 76th) have also moved
up.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's 160 runs in the series have taken him from 23rd
to 16th position while Tim Seifert (73rd to 34th) and Ross Taylor (50th to 39th) have also
made notable gains in the batsmen's list. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has advanced six places to
13th among bowlers.
For Pakistan, experienced players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have advanced
to 45th and 71th positions, respectively, after slamming a half-century each in the
three-match series. Babar Azam, the third Pakistan batsman to score a half-century in the
series, has retained the top position as well as his aggregate of 879 points.
Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has moved up from 72nd to 39th position with two
wickets in the series, which the home side won 2-0, with one match abandoned, to retain
the top rank in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings.
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal, who top-scored in the series with an aggregate of 104
runs, has gained 11 slots to reach 50th position. Al Amin-Hossain is at 51st position among
bowlers after gaining 25 places.(UNI)
