Pakistan cricket skipper Shahid Afridi has made some valuable gains in the latest ICC T20 Player Rankings, following his side’s crushing 3-0 whitewash by England, in Sharjah earlier yesterday night.
The prolific 35-year-old all-rounder, who became the highest wicket-taker in T20 history during the series (with 88 wickets in 87 matches to date), has climbed up one place to second in the all-rounder rankings and is 32 points behind Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.
Afridi also climbed three places to sixth in the ICC T20I Bowler Rankings after claiming five wickets for 77 runs in the series and is the highest-ranked bowler on either side at the end of the series. Other bowlers to make notable career-high gains were the Pakistan duo of Shoaib Malik (up eight places to 60th) and Anwar Ali (up 35 to 66th), while England pair Chris Jordan (up 13 to 95th) and Adil Rashid (up 50 to 98th) have both broken into the top 100 for the first time.
In an unchanged top 10, Alex Hales remains the highest-ranked batsman in third place, while England captain Eoin Morgan has maintained his eighth-place ranking after guiding his team to victory. Pakistan’s highest-ranked batsmen are Ahmed Shehzad (16th) and Umar Akmal (18th), who have both dropped two points apiece.
Jos Buttler has climbed two places to 45th while James Vince, who was named the Man of the Series after scores of 41, 38 and 46 in what was the 24-year-old’s debut T20 series, is a new entry in 51st position, two places and four points clear of his team-mate Joe Root, who himself has climbed six places to a career-high 53rd. Shoaib Malik has climbed seven places to 58th, but the highest mover overall is Sam Billings who has rocketed 151 places to 95th. —ICC
