Kuldeep vaults to career-best No.2 in ICC T20I rankings

India's premier wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav rose one place to take a career-best second spot in the ICC mens T20I player rankings after returning 2/26 in the final match against New Zealand which the men-in-blue lost by four runs to go down 1-2 in the series.

The 24-year-old Indian is now only behind Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan in the table, according to an International Cricket Council (ICC) release.

Spinners Imad Wasim of Pakistan (up five places to fourth position) and Mitchell Santner of New Zealand (up four places to 10th) have also moved up in the latest rankings update that includes two other series which saw South Africa beat Pakistan and Nepal beat the United Arab Emirates by identical 2-1 margins.

Among other Indians, left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya rose 39 places to a career-best 58th while openers Rohit Sharma (up three places to seventh) and Shikhar Dhawan (up one place to 11th) have made progress with some useful knocks in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson (up one place to 12th), Ross Taylor (up seven places to 51st) and Tim Seifert (up 87 places to a career-best 83rd) among batsmen and Tim Southee (up seven places to 30th) among bowlers are some notable gainers.

In the ICC T20I team rankings, South Africa have overtaken Australia and England to third place while Nepal have overtaken the UAE marginally to be in 14th position even as they come on to the table within a week of similarly crossing the threshold of eight matches and gaining entry onto the ODI table.

--IANS

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