Dubai: Stand-in India captain Shikhar Dhawan and batter Shreyas Iyer moved up while regular skipper Rohit Sharma and talismanic batter Virat Kohli dropped a spot each in the latest updates to the ICC Men’s ODI Rankings Wednesday.
Dhawan, who scored a match-winning 97 in the first ODI against the West Indies, has moved up one place to joint-13th position while Iyer, who hit back-to-back fifties, is up 20 places to joint-54th spot in the rankings for the batters. Fast bowler Mohammad Siraj is in the top 100 of the bowlers’ rankings.
For the West Indies, opener and vice-captain Shai Hope is up three places to 12th place after his valiant 115 in the second match while fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has gained two places to reach 16th position after grabbing two wickets each in both matches.
In the ODI series between England and South Africa finished at 1-1, it was in-form Proteas star Quinton de Kock that benefitted most as he jumped two places to be at fourth place. De Kock hit an unbeaten 92 during the final match of the series in Leeds, which meant that the India duo of Kohli (fifth) and Rohit (sixth) each dropped a spot courtesy of de Kock’s moves.
In the ICC Men’s Test Player rankings, Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique, who was declared Player of the Match for his second innings knock of 160 in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle and has amassed 720 runs in his first six Tests, advanced 23 slots to reach 16th position with a Pakistan record of 671 rating points.
The previous best by a Pakistan batter after six Tests was Saeed Ahmed’s 614 rating points and only two batters have ever had more points after six Tests — Sunil Gavaskar (692) and Donald Bradman (687).
Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, whose 21 wickets rank him joint-third in terms of most wickets after two Tests, has moved up 11 places to 44th position with 481 rating points, the fourth highest by any bowler after two Tests. Narendra Hirwani (519), Alec Bedser (500) and Bob Massie (494) had higher rating points after two Tests.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s scores of 119 and 55 in the first Test see him overtake Australia’s Steve Smith to reach a career-high third ranking with a career-best rating of 874 points. Babar is currently top ranked in both ODIs and T20Is and remains the only batter in the top 10 of all three lists.
Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi moved up one place to a career-best-equaling third position after grabbing four wickets in the first innings. Hasan Ali and Yasir Shah have gained a slot each to reach 13th and 32nd positions, respectively.
Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal has gained 11 slots to reach 18th position after scores of 76 and 94 not out while Kusal Mendis (up two places to 47th) and Oshada Fernando (up 11 places to 58th) too have made headway in the Test rankings.
In the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips (up three places to joint-27th among batters) and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson (up five places to 35th among bowlers) made notable progress, so as Ireland bowlers Mark Adair and Joshua Little, who are in 43rd and 44th positions, respectively.
IANS
