Suryakumar Yadav has risen to the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Player Rankings for batters after smashing two half-centuries in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia over the past week. Yadav’s 51 not out off 25 balls against the Netherlands in Sydney and a valiant 68 off 40 balls against South Africa in Perth have helped him overtake Devon Conway of New Zealand and Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan. They had been in first place since September 4th of this year.
Yadav is the 23rd player to top the T20I batting rankings and only the second Indian to do so after Virat Kohli, who spent 1,013 days at the top between September 2014 and December 2017. Yadav’s 863 rating points are also the second-highest by an Indian, trailing only Kohli’s 897 in September 2014. Glenn Phillips of New Zealand has moved up five spots to a career-best seventh position after scores of 104 against Sri Lanka and 62 against England, while Rilee Rossouw of South Africa has also entered the top 10 after scoring 109 against Bangladesh, moving up 17 spots to a career-best eighth position.
England captain Jos Buttler’s 73-run knock against New Zealand has moved him up three places to 14th, while Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz (up four places to joint-17th), South Africa’s David Miller (up two places to 28th), Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa (up eight places to 29th), Bangladesh’s Liton Das (up two places to 36th), and Australia’s Mitchell Marsh (up two places to 31st) and According to the most recent weekly update, which takes into account performances in matches completed by Tuesday, Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has risen four places to second place among bowlers.
Hasaranga, who rose to No. 1 during last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, has reclaimed the top spot after taking one wicket against New Zealand and three against Afghanistan. Hasaranga is only three points behind Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan. England seamer Sam Curran, who took two wickets each against New Zealand and Ireland during this period, has risen two places to sixth place, while South African quick Anrich Nortje has risen 11 places to eighth place following his four-wicket haul against Bangladesh.
Mitchell Santner of New Zealand has moved into the top 10, while Trent Boult and Tim Southee of Australia have moved up to 12th and 16th, respectively. Lungi Ngidi’s Player of the Match performance of four for 29 against India has moved him up 11 places to joint 28th with India’s Axar Patel.
The prominent gainers in the bowlers’ list are India’s Ravichandran Ashwin (up three places to 18th), Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Wasim (up one place to 21st), New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi (up three places to 22nd), and Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi (up four places to joint-24th) and India’s Arshdeep Singh (up 16 places to 27th).
