ICC T20I Rankings | Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan move closer to top 10 while spinners rule the bowling rankings
In the latest ICC rankings released on Wednesday, Indian captain Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan gained places while the bowling rankings saw eight spinners dominate the top 10, headed by Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan.
A good performance by Virat Kohli in the second T20I against South Africa Cricket saw him move up by one places to number 11. After his unbeaten 72 runs at Chandigarh Kohli stands at 659 points at a career strike rate of 135.
Star opener Shikhar Dhawan jumped 3 places to number 13 in the rankings. Dhawan has 639 points at a strike rate of 130. The only two Indian batsmen to make the top 10 are Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. The top-scorer in the recently concluded World Cup, Rohit jumped up one place to be joint eighth with Englishman Alex Hales at 664 points, while out of form Lokesh Rahul dropped three places to just make it to the top.
Almost impeccable performances from South African T20 captain Quinton de Kock helped him move from the 49th to the 30th position. He registered scores of 52 and 79 not out in the last two matches of the series. Andile Phehlukwayo reached his career-best ranking of seventh and is the only South African bowler ranked in the top ten.
The recently concluded tri series involving Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands and Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan were also taken into consideration. Afghanistan’s spin sensation Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the latest entry into the top ten of the T20 bowling rankings.
Scottish seamers Alasdair Evans and Richie Berrington reached their career-best rankings post the tri-series. In batting, Irish batsman Kevin O’Brien achieved his career-high points tally of 459 points. With some strong performances, Scottish batsman George Munsey ended the tri-series at 585 points. But the highlight was Hazratullah Zazai who stands fifth in the T20 rankings with 727 points, the highest by any Afghanistan batsman. Retiring captain Hamilton Masakadza ended his career as the highest ranked Zimbabwe batsman, at 22.
The batsman’s list continues to be headed by Babar Azam of Pakistan with 896 points. In a format dominated by hard-hitting batsman, 8 of the top 10 bowlers in the list consist of spinners, headed by the impressive Afghanistan leggie, Rashid Khan, with 757 points.
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