Axar Patel breaks into top-10 bowlers

India spinners Axar Patel and Amit Mishra have made impressive gains in the latest MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings after they achieved career-high rankings following their side’s 3-2 series victory over New Zealand. Left-arm spinner Patel has broken into the top 10 for the first time in his career after rising five places to ninth, while wrist spinner Mishra has vaulted 25 places to enter the top 20 for the first time to share 12th position with South Africa’s Dale Steyn. Patel grabbed four wickets in the series, but Mishra, who was adjudged the player of the series, snapped up 15 wickets. While breaking into the top 10, Patel has also become India’s highest-ranked bowler after Ravichandran Ashwin has slipped three places to 16th after missing the just-concluded series, while Mishra is now his side’s second highest-ranked bowler. India’s fast bowler Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah have also made upward movements following the series, which concluded on Saturday. Yadav took eight wickets in the series which has lifted him from 42nd to 35th position, while Bumrah has been rewarded for his six wickets in four matches with a rise of 29 places that has put him in a career-best 57th position. Trent Boult of New Zealand, who took six wickets in four matches, leads the field, while Sunil Narine of the West Indies is second and South Africa’s Imran Tahir is third. The good news for New Zealand are the movements of its fast bowler Tim Southee and opener Tom Latham. Southee was New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker with seven wickets which have helped him rise three places to 31st, while Latham was the pick of his side’s batsmen with 244 runs. This is reflected in the latest rankings in which the left-hander has jumped 32 places to a career-high 39th position. Leading batsmen losing ground include Martin Guptill in eighth (down by two places), Rohit Sharma in ninth (down by two places), Ross Taylor in 15th (down by one place) and Ajinkya Rahane in 30th (down by two places).

India’s Virat Kohli finished as the lead run-getter with 358 runs at an average of just under 120, and although he has remained behind AB de Villiers in second place, the former Under-19 player who led India to victory in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in Malaysia has reduced the South African’s lead from 48 points to just 13 points. There is no change in the top five of the all-rounders’ list, which is headed by Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, fourth-ranked India has reduced the pre-series three-point gap with third-ranked New Zealand to just one point. Had India won the series 4-1, it would have swapped places with New Zealand. New Zealand will now travel to Australia in December for a three-ODI series, while India’s next ODI assignment is a three-match series against England in January 2017.