Pakistan’s star pacer Haris Rauf surpassed fellow teammate Shadab Khan in the newly released ICC Men’s T20I bowler rankings. The latest rankings by ICC saw Rauf grabbing the 11th spot in the tally, while Shadab remained static at the 12th position.
The 29-year-old cricketer’s gain came after his sensational outing in the first three T20Is of Pakistan’s five-match series against New Zealand. Notably, Rauf has picked up ten wickets in the ongoing series, which includes two back-to-back four-wicket hauls. Kiwi spinner Ish Sodhi (620 points) and Men in Green’s Shaheen Afridi (624 points) have also moved up by four and two places, respectively.
It is also noteworthy that Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan maintained his numero-uno spot among bowlers in T20Is.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s Prabath Jayasuriya was the major gainer in Test cricket. The left-arm spinner was rewarded after his ten-wicket match haul against Ireland in the first Test. He jumped 13 places in the ICC Test bowling rankings to break into the top 20.
The 31-year-old has 43 wickets to his name in the six Tests he has played so far and already has five five-wicket hauls in his very short red-ball career. Jayasuriya’s compatriot Ramesh Mendis also moved up four places to 32 after bagging four scalps in the second innings of the Ireland Test. However, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin still remains at the top in the Test bowler’s rankings with 869 points.
Sri Lankan batters showed gain as well, with skipper Dimuth Karunaratne achieving career-high ratings of 783 to reach the 9th position among Test batters after his brilliant 179 off 235 balls. Following his unbeaten hundred in Galle, Dinesh Chandimal jumped four places to enter the top 15 and is now on 14th place.
In the meantime, Marnus Labuschagne (915 points) of Australia retained the No.1 spot among batters in Test cricket.
