Maxwell becomes top T20I all-rounder

Maxwell, who smashed aggressive knocks of 145 not out and 66 in the two-match series against Sri Lanka in Pallekele and Colombo that his team won 2-0, has leapfrogged Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan to become the top-ranked T20I all-rounder with his performance in the first match and consolidated it in the second.

Maxwell has also gained 16 places in the batsmen’s rankings, which is led by India’s Virat Kohli with Australia’s Aaron Finch in second place. Kohli is comfortably placed with 820 points but Maxwell has moved to 763 points, just eight less than Finch.

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has moved up four places to 60th rank in the batsmen’s list with scores of 58 and four in the two matches while his team-mate Chamara Kapugedera has moved up 18 slots to reach 72nd rank after scoring 43 and seven.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, a former top-ranked batsman (in June 2009), has retired at 19th rank. In the all-rounders’ list he is in15th position after playing his last match in Colombo and is ranked 119th in the bowlers’ list. His best rank as an all-rounder was fifth in March 2012 while as a bowler his highest rank was 18th in January 2007.

The one-off Twenty20 match at Old Trafford in which Pakistan beat England by nine wickets, has seen the visiting side’s Sharjeel Khan move up 28 places to 37th rank with his knock of 59 while his team-mate Khalid Latif’s unbeaten 59 has helped him move up 61 places to 120th rank.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat has moved up the rankings with his knock of 49 that helped pull off a 40-run victory over Ireland. Hayat has moved up 19 places to the 38th slot with his performance as Hong Kong won the two-match series 1-0 with the second match abandoned due to rain.

In the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for T20I Bowlers, Australia pace bowler James Faulkner has jumped four places to move to fifth position with a career-best rating of 672 points after taking four wickets in the series against Sri Lanka while Mitchell Starc’s four wickets in the two matches has seen him re-enter the rankings at 20th place.

Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim (37th) and pace bowler Wahab Riaz (45th) are the others to move up the rankings after grabbing two and three wickets, respectively, in the match against England.

Hong Kong’s left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed has moved up two places to 28th position with his two wickets against Ireland while his team’s pace bowlers Aizaz Khan (34th) and Tanwir Afzal (38th) have also gained in the rankings.

In the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings, Australia has gained one slot to reach fifth rank. It moved from 110 to 114 points to go past England, which has slipped from 116 to 113 after its loss to Pakistan in the one-off T20I.

Hong Kong’s 1-0 win in the two-match series against Ireland has helped it gain five points but it remains at 17th position. Ireland has lost six points to go down to 42 but maintains its 15th position.