Hafeez, Kuldeep soar in T20I player rankings

Kuldeep Yadav of India and Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez have been rewarded with big jumps in the latest T20I player rankings after they played key roles in their sides’ convincing victories over their respective rivals in the recently-concluded T20I series.

Yadav picked up five wickets in two matches at an economy-rate of 5.6 in his side’s 3-0 win over the Windies.

This has helped him vault 14 places to a career-high 23rd position in the bowling table.

Hafeez was in sparking form with the bat against New Zealand and his series aggregate of 132 runs at a strike-rate of 145 has lifted him 16 places to 53rd spot in the batting chart.

Pakistan and India’s identical 3-0 series wins mean they have gained points in the T20I team rankings, while New Zealand and the Windies have moved in opposite directions.

Number-one ranked Pakistan have collected two points and number-two ranked India have pocketed three points, moving to 138 and 127 points respectively, while fifth-ranked New Zealand and seventh-ranked West Indies have ended up on 112 and 102 points respectively after dropping four points apiece.

Other batsmen to make notable improvements in the latest update include Rohit Sharma in seventh (up by three places), Kane Williamson in 12th (up by three places), Shikhar Dhawan in 16th (up by five places) and Ross Taylor in 59th (up by five places).

The batting table is headed by Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who has gained 14 points following his series total of 126 runs, which has opened up the gap with Australia’s second-ranked Aaron Finch to 19 points.

Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan remains the number-one ranked bowler. He leads Pakistan’s Shadab Khan by 41 points, with England’s Adil Rashid in third position.

There is no change in the top-four of the all-rounders’ list with Australia’s Glenn Maxwell leading the field. Mohammad Nabi is second, followed by Shakib Al Hasan and JP Duminy.