Kuldeep Yadav, Adam Zampa surge in ICC Twenty20 International rankings for bowlers

Kuldeep Yadav and Adam Zampa have surged in the latest rankings of the ICC Twenty20 International for bowlers after their wonderful performances in the recently concluded three-match Twenty20 International series between India and Australia. Virat Kohli’s magnificent 61* helped India maintain their unbeaten run in Twenty20 bilateral series with a six-wicket win in Sydney as the series ended 1-1. Australia had won the first match in Brisbane by four runs via DLS method while the second game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was abandoned due to rain.  

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Kuldeep took four wickets across the three Twenty20 Internationals against Australia, moved up a whopping 20 places to No.3. Zampa, the Australia leg-spinner, made a 17-spot leap to No.5 after picking three wickets against India across two innings, including a match-winning spell of 2/22 in the first match. The common factor for both Kuldeep and Zampa in the series was also their economy rate. The India chinaman bowler had a magnificent economy of 5.50 while Zampa also had a similar rate.

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In the batting department, the results were mixed. India opener Shikhar Dhawan moved up five places to No.11 after his knocks of 76 and 41, but Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul slipped two spots to No.6 and No.9 respectively, while Virat Kohli kept his spot at No.14 after scores of 4 and 61. For Australia, skipper Aaron Finch, who failed to be his destructive self in all four games including the one-off T20I against South Africa, slipped one spot to the third rank, but Glenn Maxwell rose to the fifth place from No.6 after scores of 38, 46, 19 and 13.

India rule in Tests

In the Test team rankings, India held on to the top spot with 116 points. England has claimed second position on the team rankings after completing a 3-0 sweep over Sri Lanka in Colombo.

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If Australia wins all four Tests against India, and South Africa beat Pakistan 3-0, then South Africa will be the new No.1-ranked side, ahead of Australia by a fraction of a point. In this scenario, England and India will be equal on 108 points with England ranked above India when the points are calculated beyond the decimal point.  Australia can also top the team rankings, but to make this happen, Tim Paine's side will have to win all four Tests against India and then hope Pakistan either draw or win a Test against South Africa.

-With PTI inputs-