Axar Patel achieved a career-best fifth position among bowlers in the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, advancing 12 places. This notable climb followed strong performances by several Indian players in the series against Afghanistan.
Patel’s impressive bowling figures of two for 23 and two for 16 in India’s consecutive six-wicket victories elevated him to 16th place among all-rounders.
The latest rankings update, which considers matches completed until Tuesday, reflects the outstanding contributions of Indian players in the T20I series against Afghanistan.
Yashasvi Jaiswal ‘s impressive 34-ball 68 in the first T20I in Indore propelled him to a career-best sixth position, marking a significant rise of seven places.
Meanwhile, the left-handed batsman Shivam Dube surged from the 265th position to the 58th spot in the ICC rankings, thanks to his consecutive unbeaten innings of 60 and 63. These noteworthy performances have contributed to their upward movement in the latest rankings.
Another player to make notable gains is New Zealand’s Finn Allen, whose two innings of 34 off 15 balls and 74 off 41 balls helped his team win the first two matches against Pakistan and lifted him 11 places to 16th among batters. His team-mate Tim Southee, who took six wickets in the first two matches, is up eight places to 18th in the bowlers’ list.
Shubman Gill (up seven places to 60th among batters), Tilak Verma (up three places to joint-61st among batters) and Arshdeep Singh (up four places to 21st among bowlers) are the other India players to move up while Najibullah Zadran (up one place to 46th) and Mohammad Nabi (up two places to 54th) are the Afghanistan players to move up in the batting rankings.
Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam is up one place to fourth after notching consecutive half-centuries in the first two matches against New Zealand while Fakhar Zaman is up 14 places to 81st. Daryll Mitchell (up nine places to 37th) and Kane Williamson (up 13 places to 59th) are the Kiwi batters to move up.
The bowling rankings see Sri Lanka spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana take joint-third position after moving up one and two places, respectively. Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf’s haul of five wickets in two matches have lifted him two places to joint-14th while New Zealand player Adam Milne’s six wickets in two matches see him advance from 66th to joint-47th position.