Yadav, Shamsi charge towards top in MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings

India batter Suryakumar Yadav and South Africa spinner Tabraiz Shamsi have made remarkable gains in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, surging up to grab the second spot for batters and bowlers, respectively, in the latest weekly update.

Yadav has moved up three spots to within two rating points of top-ranked Babar Azam after a dazzling 44-ball knock of 76 that won him the Player of the Match award and sees him lead the batting aggregate with 111 runs from three matches in the series against the West Indies which his side leads 2-1.

Shamsi, who was top-ranked for most of the period from April to October last year, has advanced one slot to take second position but remains 64 rating points adrift of top-ranked Josh Hazlewood, who is on 792 rating points. The left-arm wrist-spinner’s eight wickets, which included a match-winning five for 24 in the final match, helped win the series against England 2-1 and gain 19 rating points.

South Africa batter Reeza Hendricks, who notched half-centuries in all three matches against England, has moved up 16 slots to 15^th position while West Indies batter Brandon King (up 29 places to 27^th), England’s Jonny Bairstow (up 13 places to 31^st) and South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw (joint-37^th) have also made notable gains among batters.

Liton Das, Heinrich Klaasen and Rishabh Pant have also moved up that list while West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein (up three places to sixth), England’s Chris Jordan (up one place to 16^th), New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner (up three places to 17^th) and Ish Sodhi (up two places to 19^th) are among the others to move up among T20I bowlers.

Sri Lanka players have made notable gains in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after winning the second match of their ICC World Test Championship series against Pakistan in Galle which ended 1-1.

Off-spinner Ramesh Mendis has progressed 19 rungs to reach 31^st position with nine wickets in the match while left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya has advanced 11 slots to reach 33^rd position after finishing with eight wickets in the match. Dinesh Chandimal is up two places to 16^th among batters with 101 runs in two innings while Player of the Match Dhananjaya de Silva has moved from 49^th to 41^st after scoring a century in the second innings.

For Pakistan, Mohammad Rizwan (up three places to 17^th) and Imam-ul-Haq (up 15 places to 49^th) have moved up the list for batters, and Naseem Shah (up seven places to 60^th) and Mohammad Nawaz (up 21 places to 68^th) among bowlers.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings, India opener Shikhar Dhawan has moved up one slot to 12^th position after getting a half-century in the last match of their ODI series in the West Indies. India bowlers Yuzvendra Chahal (16^th) and Shardul Thakur (72^nd) have also gained in the latest update while West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran is up two places to 30^th.