Suryakumar Yadav remains on top of ICC T20I batter rankings

Dubai: India star Suryakumar Yadav remains at the top of the T20I rankings for batters, with a pair of New Zealanders on the move following a good start to the series with Pakistan.

Opener Tim Seifert rises three places to 24th, while teammate Mark Chapman is the big improver following his unbeaten half-century and Player of the Match heroics in the third game of the series in Pakistan.

Chapman smashed 87 not out from just 42 deliveries in a standout individual performance with the bat and was duly rewarded by making a 12-place jump to 33rd overall as a result of his innings that included a quartet of massive sixes.

There is also another new career-high rating for Dipendra Singh Airee on the updated rankings for T20I batters, with the Nepal all-rounder continuing the form that saw him become just the third player to smash six sixes in an over of a T20I match earlier this month.

Airee joined India great Yuvraj Singh and West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard as players to have achieved the remarkable feat when he launched Kamran Khan over the rope six consecutive times during Nepal's match against Qatar at the ACC Men's T20I Premier Cup and the 24-year-old was at it again in the playoff for third at the same event.

The hard-hitting Nepal star contributed an unbeaten 44 not out from just 29 deliveries and climbed another 10 rungs in the rankings for T20I batters to move to a new career-high rating in 50th place.

He is the fourth men's player from his country to reach the top 50 with the bat after Paras Khadka reached 42nd in September 2019, Kaushal Bhurtel reached 27th in the list in March 2022, and Rohit Paudel reached 45th in March this year.

Left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi is once again Pakistan's highest-rated T20I bowler, following the latest update to the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings.

Shaheen rises two spots to 17th overall for T20I bowlers on the back of his strong start to Pakistan's ongoing T20I series at home against New Zealand, where the 24-year-old is the leading wicket-taker for the series through the first three matches.

The pacer took the only wicket in the opening match of the series that was ruined by rain and his haul of 3/13 in Pakistan's decisive seven-wicket triumph over the Kiwis in the second game of the series has led to the rise up the rankings and past teammate and fellow quick Haris Rauf in 22nd place.

England's Adil Rashid remains out in front as the No.1 ranked player on the latest T20I rankings for bowlers, while fellow spinner Ish Sodhi also gains some ground following three wickets for New Zealand in the series against Pakistan.

Sodhi collected 1/18 in the second match of the series in Rawalpindi and then improved on that effort during the Kiwis' emphatic seven-wicket victory at the same ground with figures of 2/25 as New Zealand levelled the series at 1-1 with two matches remaining.