Dubai: Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who led the team to glory in recently-concluded Asia Cup, has jumped two places to attain a career-best second position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI player ranking.
Producing a rich vein of form, the 31-year-old had scored a total of 317 runs in the prestigious tournament including one centurion knock against arch-rival Pakistan in their Super Four match.
This is for the second time that Sharma is at the second spot, having first reached number two in July this year.
Another Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan also made huge gains as he leaped four slots to reach the fifth place in the ranking list. The development came after the left-hander topped the tournament with an aggregate of 342 runs.
In ICC bowling ranking list, Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav advanced three places to take a career-best third position after finishing as the joint-highest wicket-taker along with Bangladesh’s fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, all of who finished with 10 wickets each.
For Afghanistan, right-arm leg break bowler Rashid Khan becomes world’s top-ranked ODI all-rounder as he displaced former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan from the top position.
Afghanistan opener Mohammad Shahzad has gained 19 slots to reach 36th position, his highest in two years, while spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has gained 15 slots to reach the eighth position.
For Bangladesh, wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has attained a career-best 16th position, while Liton Das has advanced 107 positions to reach 116th rank after his fine century in the final. Mustafizur has moved up four places to take the 12th position among bowlers.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Nizakat Khan has reached a career-best 78th rank Hong Kong’s Nizakat Khan has reached a career-best 78th rank.
For Sri Lanka, Upul Tharanga has gained two positions to reach 41st rank while Hong Kong captain Anshuman Rath’s knock of 73 against India has led him to 55th position with 532 points, the highest ever points tally for a Hong Kong batsman. Rath’s opening partner Nizakat Khan has gained 28 slots to reach a career-best 78th rank.
Pakistan left-hander Imam-ul-Haq has gained 15 places to reach a career-best 27th position while Shoaib Malik has gained 12 slots to reach 42nd position. Junaid Khan has gained seven slots to reach 30th position among bowlers.
In ICC ODI Team Rankings, India have gained one point while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have lost three points each. Afghanistan have also gained five points but there has been no change in positions in the list led by England.
[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]