Afghanistan Cricket Team captain Rashid Khan has pipped Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga to go top of the ICC T20 International (T20I) rankings for bowlers. Rashid, who recently led Afghanistan to a historic 2-1 series win over Pakistan in Sharjah, finished the tournament with three wickets at an economy rate of 5.16. Notably, he went over 100 balls at a stretch without conceding a boundary.
Rashid reached the top of the rankings for the first time in February 2018 and most recently held the top position in November last year.
His teammate Fazalhaq Farooqi has jumped to a career-best third in the bowler’s rankings, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman jumps two spots to move to eighth after a good show in the Pakistan series. Afghanistan, as a result have three bowlers in the top 10.
Among the batters, South Africa duo of Rilee Rossouwand Reeza Hendricks have climbed up the ladder. Hendricks finished as the leading run-getter in the recently-concluded series against West Indies with 172 runs at a strike-rate of 204.76 and finds himself move up eight placers to 12th. Rossouw, on the other hand moves up two places to sixth.
However, Johnson Charles made one of the biggest jumps in recent times, moving up 92 slots to 17th after a whirlwind 46-ball 118 at Centurion.
There was some movement in the ODI rankings as well. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa moves to a career-best sixth position in the bowler’s rankings, following a four-wicket haul in the series-decider against India in Chennai. India skipper Rohit Sharma has moved up one spot to eigth among batters, while his Bangladesh counterpart makes it into the top 20.
Afghan Herald
