Cricket

Kuldeep Yadav reaches career-best T20I rankings

Dixit Bhargav
|PublishedFeb 11, 2019

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 12: Kuldeep Yadav of India celebrates with team mates after taking the wicket of Alex Carey of Australia during game one of the One Day International series between Australia and India at Sydney Cricket Ground on January 12, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Kuldeep Yadav reaches career-best T20I rankings: The Indian chinaman bowler has come closer to the No. 1 T20I spot in the bowler’s rankings.

With bowling figures of 4-0-26-2, India chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav was their pick of the bowlers in the third T20I against New Zealand at Hamilton. Having missed out in the first two matches, Yadav provided India with much-needed wickets of Tim Seifert (43) and Colin Munro (72).

The 24-year old spinner has surpassed Shadab Khan to become the No. 2 T20I bowler after the latest update in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Rankings. Among the other Indian bowlers, left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya has jumped 39 spots to reach a career-best No. 58.

Talking of other left-arm spinners, Pakistan’s Imad Wasim and New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner also improved on their T20I rankings. While Wasim has jumped five spots to No. 4, Santner has jumped four places to enter the Top 10 (No. 9).

Among the pacers, New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee jumped seven position to reach No. 30. Pakistan left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi has jumped 28 spots to attain a career-best rank of No. 48.

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In the batsmen’s list, the Indian opening pair of stand-in captain Rohit Sharma (three places to No. 7) and Shikhar Dhawan (one place to No. 11). Regular captain Virat Kohli, who was rested for the T20I series against New Zealand, has dropped by four spots to share the 19th position with Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza.

The New Zealand trio of captain Kane Williamson (jumped a spot to reach No. 12), middle-order batsman Ross Taylor (jumped seven spots to reach No. 51) and wicket-keeper batsman Tim Seifert (jumped 87 spots to reach No. 83), who ended the series as its highest run-scorer, all gained respective improvement in their rankings.

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis (jumped three spots to No. 17) and Reeza Hendricks (jumped 31 spots to No. 42) earned accolades from their team. Pakistan batsman Babar Azam, who ended the series against South Africa as the highest run-scorer (151 runs in three matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 157.29), retained his No. 1 rank.

Having defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the three-match series, South Africa leapfrogged Australia and England to reach No. 3 in the team’s rankings. The Proteas are only behind India (No. 2) and Pakistan (No. 1) now.

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About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.