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The Indian cricket team batters came out all guns blazing in the third and final T20I against South Africa in Johannesburg on Sunday. With South Africa winning the second T20I and the first T20I being washed away, the match was a do-or-die one for the Suryakumar Yadav-led side. And they played with an attacking intent. Captain Suryakumar Yadav struck a magnificent 100 off just 56 balls as India posted 201 for 7. Suryakumar struck seven fours and eight sixes for his 100 — his fourth T20I century — after India were invited to bat first.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal made 60 off 41 balls. For South Africa, spinner Keshav Maharaj and pacer Lizaad Williams took two wickets apiece while Tabraiz Shamsi got one.The match also witnessed a strange incident in the last over. On the penultimate ball of the innings, India’s Jitesh Sharma hit a boundary off Lizaad Williams but, however, to everyone’s surprise was given out as he had stepped on to the stumps to be hit wickets.
Meanwhile, India’s explosive batter Suryakumar Yadav has extended his lead at the summit of the ICC T20I batter rankings following his quick-fire half-century against South Africa in the second T20I clash.
The right-handed batter smashed 56 in just 36 balls in a losing cause as the ‘Men in Blue’ fell short in the exciting clash in Gqeberha on Tuesday.
According to the latest rankings released by ICC on Wednesday, the attacking batter gained a total of 10 rating points which has further increased his lead as the No.1 ranked batter in the shortest format of cricket.
His latest exploits took his total to 865 rating points, which takes him way ahead of his nearest rivals in Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan (787 rating points) and South Africa’s Aiden Markram (758).
Surya became the top T20I batter during the last edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.
His current form suggests that the India batter is likely to hold that position as the T20 World Cup 2024 inches closer in the West Indies and the USA.
Youngster Tilak Varma moved 10 spots to 55th rank and Rinku Singh also progressed to 46 places to 59th.
The newly-crowned No.1 T20I bowler Ravi Bishnoi who missed selection for the tour of South Africa has paved the way for Afghanistan ace spinner Rashid Khan to join India youngster at the top of the rankings for T20I bowlers.
The Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi has also made some eye-catching ground by moving up two places to 10th following an economical spell of 1/18 in the last match.
India’s Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav rose five places to 32nd place.
Among all-rounders, Ravindra Jadeja is at the top in T20I rankings, while Markram improved two places to be in the second spot.
Coming to the latest Test rankings, there was some movement following the completion of the two-match Test series between Bangladesh and New Zealand that finished tied at 1-1.
All-rounder Glenn Phillips won the Player of the Match in the 2nd Test and moved from outside the top 100 to 55th in rankings for batters and improved 42 places to 24th on the list for all-rounders.
His fellow teammate Ajaz Patel jumped seven places to 33rd on the list for Test bowlers, while Bangladesh duo Mehidy Hasan (up two spots to 21st) and Nayeem Hasan (up five places to 44th) also made good ground on top-ranked bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.
With ANI and PTI inputs
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