Axar Patel achieves career-best ODI ranking

Axar Patel appeals against a Zimbabwean batsman. (AFP)

 

 

Dubai: Indian left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped 20 places to career-best rank of 13 in the ICC Rankings for ODI bowlers while Jasprit Bumrah and Dhawal Kulkarni also made progress after conclusion of series against Zimbabwe.

Patel, who took three wickets against Zimbabwe, is now just three places behind India’s highest-ranked bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.

Paceman Bumrah, who with nine wickets was the most successful bowler in the series, has stormed up 125 places to 97th while Kulkarni’s five wickets in the series have lifted him 29 places to 88th.

West Indies'spinner  Sunil Narine has returned to his number-one position. He had led New Zealand’s Trent Boult by three points going into the series. The off-spinner now leads Boult by 28 points after claiming eight wickets in the tri-series to date.

South Africa’s Imran Tahir has jumped three places to second position. The wrist spinner is the leading wicket-taker in the series 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 New Zealand team-mates Kane Williamson of New Zealand 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 Sharma’s drop to seventh (down by two) and de Kock’s eighth (down by four).

Outside the top 10, the Australia trio of David Warner, Steve Smith and George Bailey have made upward movements.

Warner, who with 165 runs is the third highest scorer in the tri-series, has gained three places and is now in 12th position. Smith has moved up two places to 15th position after scoring 140 runs in four innings of five matches while Bailey has earned one place and is now in 17th spot.

Outside the top 20, Usman Khawaja is the biggest mover. The left-hander has vaulted 70 places to 87th after having scored 187 runs in the series to date.

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.