Pakistan’s Afridi soars in T20I rankings despite England series whitewash

Shahid Afridi is now No.2 ranked all-rounder in T20s

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has made some valuable gains in the latest ICC T20I Player Rankings, which were released following his side’s 3-0 series defeat to England, which concluded in Sharjah on Monday night.

The prolific 35-year-old all-rounder, who became the highest wicket-taker in T20I history during the series (with 88 wickets in 87 matches to date), has climbed up one place to second in the all-rounder rankings and is 32 points behind Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan.

Afridi also climbed three places to sixth in the ICC T20I Bowler Rankings after claiming five wickets for 77 runs in the series and is the highest-ranked bowler on either side at the end of the series. Other bowlers to make notable career-high gains were the Pakistan duo of Shoaib Malik (up eight places to 60th) and Anwar Ali (up 35 to 66th), while England pair Chris Jordan (up 13 to 95th) and Adil Rashid (up 50 to 98th) have both broken into the top 100 for the first time.

In an unchanged top 10, Alex Hales remains the highest-ranked batsman in third place, while England captain Eoin Morgan has maintained his eighth-place ranking after guiding his team to victory. Pakistan's highest-ranked batsmen are Ahmed Shehzad (16th) and Umar Akmal (18th), who have both dropped two points apiece.

Jos Buttler has climbed two places to 45th while James Vince, who was named the Man of the Series after scores of 41, 38 and 46 in what was the 24-year-old’s debut T20 series, is a new entry in 51st position, two places and four points clear of his team-mate Joe Root, who himself has climbed six places to a career-high 53rd. Shoaib Malik has climbed seven places to 58th, but the highest mover overall is Sam Billings who has rocketed 151 places to 95th.

ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 will take place from 11 March to 3 April and after a busy month, reigning champion Sri Lanka now holds a seven-points advantage at the top of the ICC T20I Team Rankings over second-placed West Indies and Australia, who are level on 118 points. England is a single point and one place further back in fourth place after winning the series 3-0.

ICC T20I Team Rankings (as on 1 December, after Pakistan-England series)

Rank Team Points

1 Sri Lanka 125

2 West Indies 118

3 Australia 118

4 England 117

5 South Africa 115

6 Pakistan 114

7 India 110

8 New Zealand 108

9 Afghanistan 79

10 Bangladesh 69

11 Hong Kong 66

12 Scotland 66

13 Netherlands 61

14 Zimbabwe 53

15 Ireland 42

(Developed by David Kendix)

ICC T20I Player Rankings (as on 1 December, after Pakistan-England series)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge S/Rate Highest Ranking

1 ( - ) Aaron Finch Aus 854 39.78 152 892 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

2 ( - ) Virat Kohli Ind 845 44.17 133 897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014

3 ( - ) Alex Hales Eng 795 34.71 136 866 v Ind at Edgbaston 2014

4 ( - ) Faf du Plessis SA 758 39.28 135 843 v Ban at Mirpur 2015

5 ( - ) B. McCullum NZ 712 35.66 136 849 v Ban at Pallekele 2012

6 ( - ) Kusal Perera SL 706* 27.09 133 751 v SA at Chittagong 2014

7 ( - ) Chris Gayle WI 703 35.15 143 831 v Aus at Colombo (RPS) 2012

8 ( - ) Eoin Morgan Eng 665 30.59 133 872 v Ind at Old Trafford 2011

9 ( - ) T. Dilshan SL 662 28.90 121 802 v NZ at Colombo (RPS) 2009

10 ( - ) Martin Guptill NZ 653 32.13 123 793 v SA at Hamilton 2012Selected Rankings:

16 (-2) A. Shehzad Pak 603 25.94 116 709 v Ban at Mirpur 2014

18 (-2) Umar Akmal Pak 592 26.31 123 709 v Zim at Harare 2011

25 (-1) M.Hafeez Pak 530 22.73 115 649 v SL at Dubai 2013

35 ( - ) Shahid Afridi Pak 492 18.47 148 537 v SA at Abu Dhabi 2010

45 (+2) Jos Buttler Eng 453* 20.81 134 461 v Pak at Dubai 2015

51 (NEW) James Vince Eng 423*! 41.66 119 423 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

53 (+6) Joe Root Eng 419*! 37.87 132 419 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

58 (+7) Shoaib Malik Pak 402 24.04 109 577 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009

95 (+151) Sam Billings Eng 255* 18.80 157 299 v Pak at Dubai 2015

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points Avge Eco. Highest Ranking

1 ( - ) Sunil Narine WI 773 17.75 5.69 817 v Pak at St. Vincent 2013

2 ( - ) Samuel Badree WI 751 14.96 5.39 855 v Pak at Mirpur 2014

3 ( - ) S.Senanayake SL 699* 17.45 6.19 712 v Eng at The Oval 2014

4 ( - ) Lasith Malinga SL 684! 21.02 7.27 684 v WI at Colombo (RPS) 2015

5 ( - ) R. Ashwin Ind 681 26.96 7.24 717 v SA at Mirpur 2014

6 (+3) Shahid Afridi Pak 670 23.68 6.56 814 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009

7 (-1) Mitchell Starc Aus 659 19.53 6.72 702 v Pak at Dubai 2014

8 (-1) N. McCullum NZ 642 22.85 6.90 709 v Zim at Harare 2011

9 (-1) Imran Tahir SA 641* 15.77 6.45 675 v WI at Johannesburg 2015

10 (+1) N. Kulasekara SL 629 23.89 7.27 676 v Aus at Melbourne 2013Selected Rankings: 17 (-1) Sohail Tanvir Pak 589 26.97 7.22 600 v Eng at Dubai 2015

19 (+1) M. Hafeez Pak 571 24.34 6.69 689 v Zim at Harare 2013

60 (+8) Shoaib Malik Pak 414! 20.08 6.76 414 v Eng at Sharjah 2015

66 (+35) Anwar Ali Pak 410*! 31.10 7.97 410 v Eng at Sharjah 2015

79 (-4) M. Irfan Pak 373* 39.50 7.40 377 v Zim at Harare 2015

95 (+13) Chris Jordan Eng 315*! 28.55 8.47 315 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

98 (+50) Adil Rashid Eng 305*! 33.14 8.00 305 v Pak at Sharjah 2015

All-rounders (top five)

Rank (+/-) Player Team Points HS Ranking

1 ( - ) Shakib Al Hasan Ban 362 408 v Pak at Mirpur 2015

2 (+1) Shahid Afridi Pak 330 413 v NZ at Dubai 2009

3 (+1) Shane Watson Aus 304 557 v SA at Colombo (RPS) 2012

4 (-2) Mohammad Hafeez Pak 303 441 v SL at Dubai 2013

5 ( - ) Marlon Samuels WI 282 321 v SL at Mirpur 2014

!indicates career-highest rating