India captain Shreyas Iyer has surged to a career-best seventh position in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings after smashing his maiden T20I century in the opening match of the home series against the West Indies in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Iyer’s unbeaten 102 from 43 deliveries that was studded with 10 fours and six sixes, propelled the World Champions to a commanding eight-wicket victory with 32 balls to spare. The explosive innings has lifted Iyer 18 places, making him India’s third-highest ranked batter in the format. Ishan Kishan leads the rankings, with Abhishek Sharma second and Tilak Varma 10th, giving India four batters in the top 10.
West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford’s brisk 56 has lifted him 10 places to 37th while India teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (up eight places to 46th) and Pakistan’s Hasan Nawaz (up 62 places to 48th) have moved up the list following their outings in the Asian Games.
Abrar Ahmed’s figures of none for 29 and one for 29 in the semifinal and final at the Asian Games were not enough for him to retain the No. 1 position among bowlers and other leg-spinner Rashid Khan is back for his eighth spell at the top, having already spent more than twice as long as anyone else as the No. 1.
India’s left-arm spinner Axar Patel grabbed two wickets each in three matches this past week to gain 16 spots and reach seventh position. Nasum Ahmed (up three places to eighth) and Mahedi Hasan (up 10 places to ninth) of Bangladesh, Nuwan Thushara of Sri Lanka (up 18 places to 48th) and Saim Ayub of Pakistan (up eight places to 62nd) are others to move up the rankings.
The ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings see India captain Shubman Gill consolidate his position at the top after his 223 not out in the second ODI against the West Indies in Guwahati. His second double-century in the format, which was the highest score in an ODI run chase, has helped him add 25 rating points and equal his career-best 841 rating points. Former captain Virat Kohli has slipped from second to third.
West Indies captain Shai Hope’s match-winning 162 not out in the final ODI in New Chandigarh has helped him move up two places to sixth while India’s centurion in the match, K.L. Rahul, is back in the top 10. Amir Jangoo, who struck 114 in Guwahati and 67 in New Chandigarh for the West Indies, has progressed 55 places to 55th.
In a week of high run chases in ODIs, the United States got to a target of 331 against the United Arab Emirates in an ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 match in Dallas and their star of the show, Milind Kumar, has been rewarded with a four-slot jump to 45th after his unbeaten 116 off 84 balls.
In the ICC Men’s ODI Bowling Rankings, West Indies’ Jayden Seales is up 12 places to 10th after grabbing three wickets in New Chandigarh. Australia’s Adam Zampa is up four places to 24th, South Africa’s Bjorn Fortuin has gained three places to reach 65th and the USA pair of Saurabh Netravalkar and Harmeet Singh have gained four slots each to reach 32nd and 53rd positions, respectively.
Toy Town
Shahid Afridi used a bat borrowed from Waqar Younis to score the fastest century in a ODI match.
Hoover Spark
In the early days of rugby, there were no points awarded for ‘tries.’