Cricket: West Indies shoot up to 2nd in rankings
Losing finalists Sri Lanka lead table; Pakistan down to 6th.
KARACHI:
The resurgence of the West Indies was aptly reflected in the Twenty20 rankings, as the World Twenty20 win helped them jump five place to sit second in the table, behind only the the team they beat in the final on Sunday.
Pakistan’s loss in the semi-final to Sri Lanka, however, took them back down to sixth after having been placed at third, after winning two of the three Super Eight matches. India, who bowed out of the mega event in the Super Eights, dropped one place to third.
In the batsmen’s rankings, Brendon McCullum has maintained his position at the top after a solid show while man-of-the-final Marlon Samuels has jumped 20 places and now sits 18th. Chris Gayle swapped places with Australia’s Shane Watson – now ranked third – and is now behind McCullum, while Umar Akmal is Pakistan’s top-ranked batsman in 15th.
Meanwhile, Saeed Ajmal has maintained his place at the top of the bowlers’ rankings, while captain Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi are also placed in the top-10. Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis has moved up one place to second after finishing the World Twenty20 with 15 wickets. Another unorthodox spinner, Sunil Narine jumped 20 places to joint 13th which he shares with Bangladesh’s Shakibal Hasan. West Indies’ Ravi Rampual climbed 15 places to 31st while leg-spinner Samuel Badree sits 47th after moving up 46 places.
There was no major movement in the all-rounders’ category with Watson topping the charts followed by Hafeez and Afridi. West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo moved up two places to seventh, while Samuels made his way into the top-10 after jumping seven places.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2012.
The resurgence of the West Indies was aptly reflected in the Twenty20 rankings, as the World Twenty20 win helped them jump five place to sit second in the table, behind only the the team they beat in the final on Sunday.
Pakistan’s loss in the semi-final to Sri Lanka, however, took them back down to sixth after having been placed at third, after winning two of the three Super Eight matches. India, who bowed out of the mega event in the Super Eights, dropped one place to third.
In the batsmen’s rankings, Brendon McCullum has maintained his position at the top after a solid show while man-of-the-final Marlon Samuels has jumped 20 places and now sits 18th. Chris Gayle swapped places with Australia’s Shane Watson – now ranked third – and is now behind McCullum, while Umar Akmal is Pakistan’s top-ranked batsman in 15th.
Meanwhile, Saeed Ajmal has maintained his place at the top of the bowlers’ rankings, while captain Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi are also placed in the top-10. Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis has moved up one place to second after finishing the World Twenty20 with 15 wickets. Another unorthodox spinner, Sunil Narine jumped 20 places to joint 13th which he shares with Bangladesh’s Shakibal Hasan. West Indies’ Ravi Rampual climbed 15 places to 31st while leg-spinner Samuel Badree sits 47th after moving up 46 places.
There was no major movement in the all-rounders’ category with Watson topping the charts followed by Hafeez and Afridi. West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo moved up two places to seventh, while Samuels made his way into the top-10 after jumping seven places.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2012.