Shaheen Afridi Jumps To The Top Of The ICC Rankings

In the most recent weekly update of the International Cricket Council’s Men’s Player Rankings, Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has risen four points to take over the top spot in the bowlers rankings from Australia’s Mitchell Johnson. In a recent one-off Twenty20 International against Australia, he concluded with figures of 2/21 from four overs. He was also named the International Cricket Council’s Men’s Cricketer of the Year 2021.

Afridi has been a reliable wicket-taker across all forms of the game for Pakistan over the past several years, and he has been particularly effective against the West Indies. His most memorable performance was during the T20 World Cup in 2021, when he destroyed the Indian top-order in a great cricket match. He concluded with figures of 3/31 from four overs to seal a win for the side. In the recent week, he has climbed eight spots in the One-Day International rankings to take up the seventh spot.

Babar Azam maintains his position at the top of the Twenty20 International standings

Due to his outstanding performance, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has retained his number one status in the current ICC Twenty20 International rankings. Babar Azam scored 66 runs off 46 balls in his last Twenty20 International game against Australia, but it was in vain as the team lost. In addition, he is the top batter in the One-Day International (ODI) rankings, having scored a total of 276 runs in three matches against Australia in the ODI series.

Imam-ul-Haq, the top run-scorer in the series against Australia with 298 runs, climbed seven positions in the one-day international rankings last week to take over the third position. Mohammad Rizwan, the ICC Men’s Twenty20 International Player of the Year for 2021, has slid to third in the T20I standings.

Dipendra Singh Airee, a Nepal all-rounder, was selected Player of the Series in the just concluded Tri-series against PNG and Malaysia. He moved 13 ranks to no.38 in the batters’ rankings, 47 spots to no.135 in the bowlers’ rankings, and climbed 10 spaces to no.10 in the Twenty20 International all-rounder rankings. Namibia’s JJ Smit established himself as one of the top five Twenty20 international all-rounders with a performance of 71 off 35 balls and statistics of 6/1, which included a hat-trick in one of the three matches against Uganda in a recent bilateral series.

The South African spinner Keshav Maharaj, who was named Player of the Match in the last Test match of the series against Bangladesh and also the player of the series, has risen to the 21st place in the current Test rankings for bowlers and the 13th position in the latest Test rankings for all-rounders.

Here are the latest T20I rankings for the batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders:

Top 10 batters

Top 10 bowlers

Top 5 All-Rounders

Not too many Indian players in this list and the only one to make it, is Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul. With the IPL 2022 tournament going on, the fans must be wondering why many of the big names are missing from this list. The Indian players have dominated some of the other formats in recent times for sure.

However, their performances in the shorter format of the game, remains to be ideal. This will be a huge concern with the T20 World Cup coming up.

12BETIndia Editor

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