With scores of 36, 70*, 49* and 64, New Zealand opener Devon Conway has zoomed himself to the number 5 position of the latest ICC men’s T20I batter ranking. The ICC released their updated rankings ahead of the T20 World Cup, which will commence on October 16.
Conway is currently the leading run-scorer of the ongoing tri-series against Bangladesh and Pakistan – 219 runs in 4 knocks – and has helped the Kiwis to the final, which will be played on Friday against Pakistan. The left-hander was at the 7th spot in the rankings previously before jumping over Aaron and Dawid Malan.
Rizwan (137 runs) and Babar Azam (177 runs) have been also among the runs – both are behind Conway in the tri-series.
Suryakumar Yadav is coming off a sensational T20I series against Australia and South Africa where his scores included 46, 69, 50*, 61and 52. With such performances, Yadav reduced the distance between him and Rizwan.
The top three in the T20I batting rankings have remained intact: Mohammad Rizwan (853 points), Suryakumar Yadav (838 points) and Babar Azam (808 points). The forthcoming T20 World Cup will provide opportunities for all three to either retain, achieve for the first time, or reclaim the numero uno T20 men’s batman position.
No Indian bowler in top 10 bowlers ranking; Hardik Pandya in top 5 all-rounders
Coming to the bowling rankings, Mark Wood and Reece Topley impressed against Australia in the two T20Is with the latter reaching the 11th position in the bowlers and Wood has climbed to number 18. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who despite some ordinary outings recently, is India’s top-ranked T20I bowler, positioned at number 12.
Josh Hazlewood remains the top-ranked T20I men’s bowler while Mohammad Nabi is the number 1 all-rounder in the shortest format in ICC’s rankings.
Unsurprisingly, Hardik Pandya is the only Indian in the all-rounder’s rankings – the Baroda all-rounder, who has been a crucial cog of India’s XI since his return earlier this year, is slotted at number 5 among the all-rounders, and he will have to play an important role for India in the T20 World Cup 2022.
