Washington Sundar ends as top-ranked Indian T20I bowler for the second consecutive year

Off-spinner Washington Sundar ended the year as the top-ranked Indian bowler on the ICC T20I Rankings. The Indian cricket team's star has accomplished this feat for the second consecutive year.

Washington Sundar had ended 2019 at the 14th position on the ICC T20I Rankings for Bowlers. He had 599 rating points then, while Deepak Chahar was the second-best ranked Indian bowler with 581 rating points.

In 2020, Washington Sundar rose two spots to end the season at the 12th rank. He has 614 rating points at the moment. This time, Jasprit Bumrah ended at the second position among the Indian players, with 593 points. Thus, Sundar attained the number one position in 2019 and 2020.

Washington Sundar jumped 10 places to reach No.11 in the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's T20I Bowling Rankings after the series against Australia 💥 pic.twitter.com/iuhOTYxDSK

— ICC (@ICC) December 9, 2020

Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan topped the ICC T20I Rankings for Bowlers once again. He had 749 rating points at the number one position on December 31, 2019.

This year, he is at the same rank with 13 points less. Incidentally, his teammate Mujeeb Ur Rahman ended at the number two position in 2019 and 2020.

The rise of Washington Sundar in the Indian T20I team

Washington Sundar played his first T20I in 2017, against Sri Lanka. The right-arm off-spinner returned with figures of 1/22 in his debut game.

In 2018, he received six opportunities to don the Indian jersey in the game's shortest format. Sundar returned with nine wickets at a miserly economy rate of 6.13.

Although Washington's economy rate has increased over the last two years, the batsmen still struggle to dominate him. It is pertinent to note that skipper Virat Kohli has mainly used him during the fielding restrictions in the first six overs.

Least runs conceded in a full T20I spell against AUS in AUS:-16 - Washington Sundar🇮🇳 today19 - Johan Botha🇿🇦 in 200919 - Graeme Swann🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in 201119 - Michael Yardy🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in 201119 - Lasith Malinga🇱🇰 in 201319 - Sunil Narine🌴 in 201319 - Kuldeep Yadav🇮🇳 in 2018#AUSvIND

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) December 4, 2020

Talking about Washington Sundar's numbers in 2020, the Indian off-spinner scalped six wickets in eight matches at a brilliant strike rate of 25. He replaced Kuldeep Yadav as the T20I team's secondary spinner.