Paras Khadka breaks into top 40 in ICC T20I rankings

India spinner Kuldeep Yadav reaches career-best second position in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings; Tim Seifert, Beuran Hendricks, Shaheen Afridi also move up in latest rankings.

• Seifert, Hendricks, Phehlukwayo, Morris and Shaheen attain career-best positions
• Nepal players in the spotlight as the team overtakes the UAE in the rankings table

India spinner Kuldeep Yadav has moved up one place to take a career-best second position in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings after grabbing two for 26 in the final match against New Zealand which his side lost by four runs to go 2-1 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 10^th) have also moved up in the latest rankings update that includes two other series which saw South Africa beat Pakistan and Nepal beat the United Arab Emirates by identical 2-1 margins.

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

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson (up one place to 12^th), Ross Taylor (up seven places to 51^st) and Tim Seifert (up 87 places to a career-best 83^rd) among batsmen and Tim Southee (up seven places to 30^th) 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 81^st position while his compatriot Chris Morris has gained seven slots to reach a career-best 21^st position after finishing with six wickets. Andile Phehlukwayo has also advanced 15 places to a career-best 23^rd position with five wickets.

Read More: Pakistan notch impressive consolation win in final T20I

Among their batsmen, Faf du Plessis (up from 20^th to 17^th) and Reeza Hendricks (up from 73^rdto 42^nd) 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 56^th position after aggregating 98 runs. Shaheen Afridi has moved up 28 places to a career-best 48^th position among bowlers.

The UAE’s Shaiman Anwar has risen to 15^th among batsmen with a gain of two slots while Mohammad Naveed has gained three places to reach 12^th position among bowlers. Nepal’s Paras Khadka has gained five places to reach 90^th position while Basant Regmi (up four places) and Sompal Kami (up 22 places) are in joint 70^th position among bowlers.

In the MRF Tyres 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 14^th 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.

Read More: Nepal seal series victory against UAE after shortened affair

MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings (as of 11 February 2019):

(Developed by David Kendix)

MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings (as of 11 February 2019):

Batsmen (top 20)

Bowlers (top 20)

All-rounders (top five)