Axar Patel, Yashaswi Jaiswal break into top 10 of ICC T20I rankings

Dubai: Riding on two excellent outings against Afghanistan in the ongoing series, India left-arm spinner Axar Patel on Wednesday leaped to his career-best fifth place, while opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal rose to the sixth spot in the latest ICC men’s T20I player rankings.

Patel’s hauls of two for 23 and two for 16 in India’s identical six-wicket wins over Afghanistan in the first two T20Is of their three-match series have also lifted him two places to 16th among all-rounders.

Jaiswal’s 34-ball 68 in the first T20I in Indore lifted him seven places to a career-best sixth position, while other left-hander Shivam Dube’s successive unbeaten knocks of 60 and 63 have helped him shoot up from 265th to 58th.

Batter Shubman Gill moved up seven places to 60th while left-handed batsman Tilak Verma gained three places to joint-61st while left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh jumped four places to 21st spot.

Among the Afghans, Najibullah Zadran (up one place to 46th) and Mohammad Nabi (up two places to 54th) moved up in the batting rankings.

New Zealand’s Finn Allen, whose two innings of 34 off 15 and 74 off 41 against Pakistan helped him to reach 16th among batters. His teammate Tim Southee, who took six wickets in the first two matches, is up eight places to 18th in the bowlers’ list.

Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam is up one place to fourth after notching two consecutive half-centuries against New Zealand.

The bowling rankings saw Sri Lanka spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana take joint-third position.

Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf’s haul of five wickets in two matches against the Kiwis have lifted him two places to joint 14th.