India’s star batter, Suryakumar Yadav, has retained his throne in the recently released ICC Men’s T20I Rankings. The right-handed batter maintained the top spot with 906 rating points despite going through a lean patch in his career. Apart from Suryakumar, Virat Kohli from India remained static on 15th place.
Suryakumar is followed by Pakistan’s Mohammed Rizwan (811) at the second and Babar Azam (755) at the third position. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Aiden Markram (748) and New Zealand’s Devon Conway (745) sit at the fourth and fifth spots. The Pakistani batting duo of Rizwan and Babar will have an opportunity to take over Suryakumar when the Men in Green face New Zealand in a five-match T20I series that commences from Saturday (April 15). Notably, both Conway and Suryakumar are currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 and will not feature in any international game until its conclusion.
On the other hand, Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana was rewarded for his performance in the recently concluded series against the Blackcaps and rose to a career-best fifth position among bowlers. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan still leads the bowling charts.
Rashid’s compatriot Fazalhaq Farooqi sits at second place, whereas Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga are on the third and fourth positions.
A few changes also took place in the Test ranking following Bangladesh’s victory over Ireland in Mirpur. The experienced campaigner of the host nation Mushfiqur Rahim was rewarded for his 126 and 51 not out and moved up five places to 17th in the Test batter’s category.
In the meantime, the spin duo of Taijul Islam and Shakib al Hasan also moved up among bowlers to the 20th and 26th spot, respectively. While Taijul was rewarded for his five-wicket haul in the first innings against Ireland, Shakib’s gain came after his figures of 2/26 in the second innings.