Haris Rauf becomes top-ranked Pakistani bowler in ICC T20I bowler rankings
Pakistan pace bowler Haris Rauf has displayed some sensational form against New Zealand in the five-match white ball T20I series. With ten wickets in three T20Is, he edged past his teammate Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi to become the top-ranked Pakistani bowler in the ICC T20I bowler rankings.
Rauf picked up back-to-back four-wicket hauls against New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series, winning the Player of the Match in the first game. The Pakistan quick was just ahead of Shaheen Afridi last week and behind Shadab Khan, who was 12th in the T20I bowling rankings. Ten wickets spread across the first three T20Is has seen Rauf move up five places in the rankings to occupy the 11th spot. He also achieved career-high ratings of 657 points in the process and could potentially enter the top 10 by the end of the five-match series. Meanwhile, Ish Sodhi (620) and Shaheen (624) have also moved up by four places and two places respectively with the others around them dropping points.
Along with this, the other big movement in the rankings came from Sri Lanka with Prabath Jayasuriya continuing his magical start to red-ball cricket. The left-arm spinner picked up a ten-wicket match haul against Ireland in the first Test, his second such figure in a very short six-match Test career.
Jayasuriya has 43 wickets in six Tests already with five five-wicket hauls. A career-best seven-wicket haul in the Galle Test against Ireland ensured he moved up by 13 places in the ICC Test bowling rankings to enter the top 20.
While achieving career-best ratings of 669, Jayasuriya also became the top-ranked Sri Lankan bowler in Test cricket. Ramesh Mendis (576), who moved up by three places after a four-wicket haul in the second innings of the Test against Ireland, is placed next at No.32. Sri Lankan batters too made gains over the course of the Test with skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, who made 179 off 235 balls, achieving career-high ratings of 783 and moving up by one place to No.9.
Dinesh Chandimal, whose stellar run of form in Test cricket continued with an unbeaten hundred in Galle, also moved up by four places to enter the top 15. He is now placed 14th with 693 rating points. Chandimal has had a rosy period in Test cricket, averaging over 90 in the format since the start of 2022.
