The Sports Desk
Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza, who is one of the premier all rounders has reached the ultimate level as he occupied the top spot in the ICC’s ODI rankings for all rounders for the first time in his career. The 39-year-old served a reminder of his glorious past in the two-match series against Sri Lanka in Harare where he notched up 92 runs in the first ODI and then bettered it with an unbeaten 59 to finish with 151 runs to go with a wicket. His sheer all-down-the-order influence saw him go past Afghanistan’s pair of Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi, who are now ranked second and third respectively.
And bowlers, too, are being shaken up. Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner from South Africa, has now taken over as the outright No. 1 ODI bowler, breaking the tie with Maheesh Theekshana of Sri Lanka. Maharaj’s ascension began with his beguiling 4 for 22 against England in Leeds, which propelled South Africa to a thumping opening victory in the series.
Pathum Nissanka, the opening batsman of Sri Lanka with 198 runs, who was also named Player of the Series in the series against Zimbabwe, moved up seven places to 13th in the ODI batting rankings. Liyanage’s team mate Janith Liyanage also advanced 13 places to 29th, and Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams moved up three places to 47th.
The T20I rankings meanwhile saw movement following the latest update. Afghanistan batters Ibrahim Zadran (up 12 places to 20th) and Sediqullah Atal (up 346 places to 127th) were notable gainers after their successive wins over UAE and Pakistan. Pakistan players: -Hasan Nawaz advanced into joint-31st among batsmen, Sufiyan Muqeem (22nd), Shaheen Shah Afridi (26th) and Mohammad Nawaz (43rd) moved upwards in the bowling rankings.
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