On Saturday (7th September), the International Cricket Council (ICC) has published the latest T20I rankings. The latest hat-trick hero Lasith Malinga climbed up 20 places in the T20I bowling rankings.
In the first week of this month, the Sri Lankan T20I captain Lasith Malinga was in the news for his bowling. At first, the experienced pacer became the most T20I wicket-taker after surpassing the previous record-holder Shahid Afridi (98 T20I wickets). He achieved that feat during the first T20I of three-match home T20I series against New Zealand. At the end of that match, Malinga managed to take 99 T20I wickets.
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Later, in the final match of this series, Malinga first became the first-ever bowler to claim 100 T20I wickets. He achieved that feat after dismissing Colin Munro (12 runs).
Soon, in that same over, Malinga claimed his fifth international hat-trick (second in T20I), in fact, he took four wickets in four successive deliveries. Apart from Colin Munro, Hamish Rutherford, Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor were the other victims at that moment.
Later, Malinga also dismissed Tim Seifert and finished that game with the match-winning bowling figures of 4-1-6-5. It was also the best T20I bowling figures by a captain.
Lasith Malinga moved from 41st to 21st position in T20I bowling rankings
Due to these top performances, Malinga climbed up 20 places in the latest T20I bowling rankings. While he was in the 41st position in the previous T20I bowling rankings, now he is standing in the 21st position.
New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner has moved up to the fifth position in the latest T20I bowling rankings. The top four were unmoved as the Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan retained the top position.
Other T20I players’ rankings
The Sri Lankan cricketer Kusal Mendis (105 runs) was the leading run-scorer in the home T20I series against New Zealand. In the latest T20I batting rankings, Mendis is now in the 40th position.
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Meanwhile, New Zealand batsman Colin de Grandhomme (103 runs) was the second most run-scorer in that same series. Climbing up 43 positions, he is now in the 80th spot in the T20I batting rankings. On the other hand, in the T20I all-rounder rankings, Colin de Granhomme is now in the joint 19th position along with the Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
The top ten spots of the T20I batting rankings had no movement as Babar Azam is holding the top position.
