Suryakumar continues to lead ICC T20 rankings

Dubai, Apr 19 (PTI) Swashbuckling Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav continued his stay at the the top of the latest ICC Men’s T20I Batters Rankings released on Wednesday.

Suryakumar, who has endured a lean run of late, remained static on the ICC list with 906 rating points, and is over a 100 points ahead of the second placed Mohammad Rizwan (798) of Pakistan.

Surykaumar, who is the lone Indian batter in the top 10, enjoyed a stellar year in the format in 2022. He continued his good run in the series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Former skipper Virat Kohli is the next best Indian batter on the list as he remained static on 15.

Among bowlers, left arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is the top-ranked Indian on 14th, while veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dropped down a spot to 19.

Hardik Pandya is second in the all-rounders’ list, behind leader Shakib Al Hasan.

Ten wickets in three T20Is has helped Haris Rauf catapult Shadab Khan to become the top-ranked Pakistan bowler.

Rauf picked up back-to-back four-wicket hauls against New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series, winning the Player of the Match in the first game.

The Pakistan quick was just ahead of Shaheen Afridi last week and behind Shadab Khan, who was 12th in the T20I bowling rankings. Ten wickets spread across the first three T20Is has seen Rauf move up five places in the rankings to occupy the 11th spot.

Meanwhile, Ish Sodhi (620) and Shaheen (624) have also moved up by four places and two places respectively with the others around them dropping points.

The other big movement in the rankings came from Sri Lanka with Prabath Jayasuriya continuing his magical start to red-ball cricket.

The left-arm spinner picked up a ten-wicket match haul against Ireland in the first Test, his second such figures in a very short six-match Test career.

Jayasuriya has 43 wickets in six Tests already with five five-wicket hauls. A career-best seven-wicket haul in the Galle Test against Ireland ensured he moved up by 13 places in the ICC Test bowling rankings to enter the top 20.

While achieving career-best ratings of 669, Jayasuriya also became the top-ranked Sri Lankan bowler in Test cricket. Ramesh Mendis (576), who moved up by three places after a four-wicket haul in the second innings of the Test against Ireland, is placed next at No.32