New Zealand pair tops ICC T-20 rankings

New Zealand T-20 squad have kick-started their 2018 campaign with a bang. The latest ICC T20I Player Rankings released on Thursday puts opener Colin Munro and leggie Ish Sodhi right on the top. Munro’s clobbering against West Indies in the 3-match T-20 series made him the leading run scorer with 223 runs which helped him collect 137 points in the ranking charts. Munro, for his consistent form, has been rewarded with a jump of 11 places, which has put him in number-one position for the first time in his career.

New Delhi/Dubai: New Zealand T-20 squad have kick-started their 2018 campaign with a bang. The latest ICC T20I Player Rankings released on Thursday puts opener Colin Munro and leggie Ish Sodhi right on the top. Munro’s clobbering against West Indies in the 3-match T-20 series made him the leading run scorer with 223 runs which helped him collect 137 points in the ranking charts. Munro, for his consistent form, has been rewarded with a jump of 11 places, which has put him in number-one position for the first time in his career.

Munro said: “It’s a bit of a surprise but one that I think anybody would take. It’s been a bit of a goal of mine to get up the rankings and to get to the top is pretty special.“Yeh great to get the treble. It’s pretty weird actually and it’s testament to the way we’ve prepared.

While Sodhi jumped from tenth to numero-uno spot for the first time in his career after collecting 70 points in the series against West Indies. Sodhi with his consistent line and length and economical bowling troubled the Caribbean batsmen and grabbed three wickets in the tournament, including two for 25 in the third T20I.

Sodhi commented: “I’m really grateful for the success I’ve had and I’m stoked to be ranked number-one. It hasn’t really sunk in just yet, but I’m sure it will as the days progress. “I’ve been trying to find a really good balance between attacking and defending, and I think it’s getting better and better the more I play.

Munro and Sodhi are the second New Zealand pair to top the T20I batting and bowling tables simultaneously after McCullum and Vettori in 2009 and 2010.

 

India’s current position in ICC rankings

Team India comfortably sits at the top of the chart in Tests while in ODIs they are positioned second after South Africa. In T-20 rankings India is placed third after table topper New Zealand and Pakistan.

In the batsmen rankings Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara are placed second and third respectively in Tests. While Virat tops the ODI batting charts he is placed third in the T-20 rankings.

In the bowling department Jadeja  and Ashwin are on number three and four spot while yorker specialist Jasprit Bumrah is ranked number three and four in ODIs and T-20 respectively.