Pakistan and Sri Lankan Stars make Rapid Strides in ICC Rankings

image-lgnnmxrsHaris rauf and Babar Azam celebrating a wicket against New Zealand (Twitter)

ICC rankings are one of the most important parameters to gauge the performance of the players and teams around the cricketing world. So, whenever the rankings come around there is a sense of excitement in the cricketing world about the ranking of different players and  their scores.

One of the significant gainers in the latest ICC rankings is Haris Rauf. He has picked 10 wickets in three games of the ongoing Pakistan New Zealand five-match T20I series and has moved up five places in the rankings to occupy the 11th spot. He is now in with a great chance to break into top 10 T20 bowlers list and has achieved career-high ratings of 657 points. The other gainers from the same series are Shaheen Afridi and Kiwi leg-spinner, Ish Sodhi. Afridi is now on the 15th spot in the list and Ish Sodhi has moved up to 16th position.

Rashid Khan is at the top of the T20I bowlers list currently while in the purest form of the game, Test cricket, Lankan players have made rapid strides after their dominating performance against the Irish. Prabath Jayasuriya, the left-arm spinner demolished Irish batting line-up with 10 wickets in the Test match and is now ranked at 19th position. He is the highest ranked Lankan bowler in Test cricket currently and has started his Test career with a bang with 43 wickets in 6 Test matches. Ramesh Mendis is another bowler who has made gains and is placed and 32nd position.

The Lankans also enjoyed good time with the bat against Ireland and their skipper Dimuth Karunaratne moved to 9th position with career-high ratings of 783 points. Also, Chandimal who has been brilliant in Test cricket in recent times has moved up to 14th position while Angelo Mathews is at 23rd position.