India’s left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped 20 places to a career-best rank of 13 in the latest ICC Rankings for ODI bowlers after a wonderful outing in the recently concluded 3 match ODI series against Zimbabwe. Jasprit Bumrah and Dhawal Kulkarni also made progress after conclusion of 50-over series against Zimbabwe.
Axar Patel is now just three places behind India’s highest-ranked bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.
West Indian spinner Sunil Narine has returned to number-one position. South Africa’s Imran Tahir has jumped three places to second position. The wrist spinner is the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing Tri-nation series — involving Australia and the West Indies — with 13 wickets to date, including a career-best seven for 45 against the West Indies.
Meanwhile, in the ODI Player Rankings for batsmen, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan and the Kiwi team-mates Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill have benefitted from Rohit Sharma’s absence from the series against Zimbabwe and Quinton de Kock’s ordinary form to rise up the chart.
Dilshan and Williamson now share fourth position while Guptill is in sixth position following Rohit’s drop to seventh (down by two) and de Kock’s eighth (down by four).
AB de Villiers, whose 200th ODI lasted just six deliveries in Barbados on Sunday, is the number-one ranked batsman. He is followed by India’s Virat Kohli, 79 points behind, while Hashim Amla is third.