Afghanistan overtakes Sri Lanka in ICC T20 rankings

Afghanistan continues their meteoric rise in cricket as they have overtaken Sri Lanka in T20 rankings.

Rashid Khan’s heroics in this season’s IPL have given plenty of opportunities for Afghanistan’s cricket fans to cheer. After their recent T20 series win against Bangladesh, the team’s fans have another reason to celebrate.

Afghanistan have overtaken Sri Lanka in the latest ICC T20 rankings. The rankings were updated after the second match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh yesterday.

A terrific bowling effort from Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman restricted Bangladesh to 134-8 in 20 overs. Samiullah Shenwari (49) led the chase as Mohammad Shahzad (24), Usman Ghani (21) and Mohammad Nabi (31*) played key roles in Afghanistan’s win.

The team chased the target with seven balls and six wickets remaining.

This is the only second time when Afghanistan has successfully completed a series win against a test-playing nation.

With this win, Afghanistan have overtaken fellow subcontinent rivals Sri Lanka in the T20 rankings. With 90 points, Afghanistan are 8th in the ICC rankings.

India maintains their position at 3 in the T20 rankings with 123 points, whereas Pakistan continues to be at the top at 130 points. Australia is second with 126 points, while New Zealand and England take the 4th and 5th spot respectively.

In the player rankings, batsmen Virat Kohli is currently 8th and is the only Indian batsman among the top 10. Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma are marginally outside the 10, at 12th and 13th position respectively. MS Dhoni has dropped to 46th.

Among the bowlers, Rashid Khan tops the rankings, whereas Yuzvendra Chahal is at 3rd position with 706 rating points. He is the only bowler in top-10, with Jasprit Bumrah at 11th.