Kuldeep Yadav climbs to career-best 2nd spot in ICC T20I rankings

Yadav accounted for well-set openers Tim Seifert and Colin Munro in the only match he played during the three-match series against New Zealand.

Image credit:Twitter/@ICC

India spinner Kuldeep Yadav has moved up one place to take a career-best second position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Player rankings after grabbing two for 26 in the third and final match against New Zealand which his side lost by four runs to go 1-2 down in the series.

The 24-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner accounted for well-set openers Tim Seifert and Colin Munro in the only match he played during the series and reaped immediate dividends. He is now only behind Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan in the table.

Spinners Imad Wasim of Pakistan (up five places to fourth position) and Mitchell Santner of New Zealand (up four places to 10th) have also moved up in the latest rankings that include two other series which saw South Africa beat Pakistan and Nepal beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by identical 2-1 margins.

Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya was another spinner to move up as he advanced 39 places to achieve career-best 58th spot while India openers Rohit Sharma (up three places to seventh) and Shikhar Dhawan (up one place to 11th) have made progress with some useful knocks.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson (up one place to 12th), Ross Taylor (up seven places to 51st) and Tim Seifert (up 87 places to a career-best 83rd) among batsmen and Tim Southee (up seven places to 30th) among bowlers are some notable gainers.

For South Africa, left-arm fast bowler Beuran Hendricks’s eight wickets against Pakistan have helped him re-enter the rankings at a career-best 81st position while his compatriot Chris Morris has gained seven slots to reach a career-best 21st position after finishing with six wickets. Andile Phehlukwayo has also advanced 15 places to a career-best 23rd position with five wickets.

Among their batsmen, Faf du Plessis (up from 20th to 17th) and Reeza Hendricks (up from 73rd to 42nd) have been the main gainers.

Pakistan’s Babar Azam continues at the top of the batsmen’s list after scoring 151 runs in the series while Hussain Talat has gained 19 places to reach 56th position after aggregating 98 runs. Shaheen Afridi has moved up 28 places to a career-best 48th position among bowlers.

The UAE’s Shaiman Anwar has risen to 15th among batsmen with a gain of two slots while Mohammad Naveed has gained three places to reach 12th position among bowlers.

Nepal’s Paras Khadka has gained five places to reach 90th position while Basant Regmi (up four places) and Sompal Kami (up 22 places) are in joint 70th position among bowlers.

In the ICC Men’s T20I Team rankings, South Africa have overtaken Australia and England to third place while Nepal have overtaken the UAE marginally to be in 14th position even as they come on to the table within a week of similarly crossing the threshold of eight matches and gaining entry onto the ODI table.

Pakistan are leading the standings while India continue to remain second in the latest ICC T20I Team rankings.