Hazratullah Zazai breaks into top 10 T20I batsmen
Zazai's meteoric rise came on the back of his massive unbeaten 62-ball 162 for Afghanistan in the second Twenty20 International against Ireland in Dehradun – a knock built around 11 fours and 16 sixes!
He wasn't the only centurion to make gains in the batting charts: Australia's Maxwell rose two spots to No.3 after his scores of 56 and 113* in Australia's sweep in India.
Australia have won it!
— ICC (@ICC) February 27, 2019
113 runs off 55 balls – a sensational innings from Glenn Maxwell takes them over the line. #INDvAUS LIVE ➡️ https://t.co/jVYUv2OMoG pic.twitter.com/ZHQNTWphZ4
D'Arcy Short, who played a good supporting role to Maxwell in both games, too broke into the top 10 with an eight-spot jump to No.8. India's KL Rahul was the most prolific batsman for the hosts in the series and was rewarded with a jump to No.6 from 10th.
India skipper Virat Kohli earned himself a two-place rise to 17th after his knocks of 24 and 72*, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni rose seven places to No.56 after producing useful knocks in both matches.
For Afghanistan, apart from Zazai, Mohammad Nabi and Usman Ghani also made notable upward movement. Nabi made scores of 49*, 17 and 81 in the team's sweep over Ireland to earn himself a 12-place jump to 30th, while Ghani surged 25 spots to No.79.
💯 for Hazratullah Zazai, brought up with his ninth six!
— ICC (@ICC) February 23, 2019
Off just 42 balls, it's the third-fastest T20I ton ever, and only Afghanistan's second hundred in the format.
What an unbelievable innings!#AFGvIRE LIVE 👇https://t.co/7szofdyWOt pic.twitter.com/nw2nYbWPml
Ireland too had something for cheer as Kevin O'Brien climbed 10 spots to No.61 and Andrew Balbirnie got a eight-spot leap to 95th.
In the bowling rankings, Jasprit Bumrah rose 12 places to 15th, having claimed 3/16 in the first T20I against Australia. Krunal Pandya also earned himself a 18-spot rise to No.43. For Australia, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jhye Richardson rose four and five places to 45th and 95th respectively, while Pat Cummins reappeared on the table on No.75.
Afghanistan's Rashid Khan kept his hold on the No.1 ranking after another impressive showing, while his spin-twin Mujeeb ur Rahman climbed two spots to 40th. Karim Janat worked himself a 11-place rise to 73rd.
"He helped a lot in the five games I played for India A" – @klrahul11 credits Rahul Dravid for his successful return to international cricket.#INDvAUS REACTION ⬇️ https://t.co/kHPbjJQsUt pic.twitter.com/s7S3nhgSea
— ICC (@ICC) February 28, 2019
For Ireland, Peter Chase and Joshua Little made impressive gains, rising 20 spots to No.99 and 16 spots to No.102 respectively.
In the all-rounder's side of things, Ireland's Kevin O'Brien rose two places to No.10 while Maxwell continued to hold the No.1 spot. D'Arcy Short soared 12 places to No.16.