Badree becomes World Number 1

Dhaka, Bangladesh – West Indies’ leg-spinner Samuel Badree has moved up a place to replace teammate Sunil Narine as the number-one ranked bowler in the latest Reliance ICC Player Ranking for T20I bowlers.

The latest update was released on Wednesday, a day after the group stage of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 came to an end.

Four sides-India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and defending champion West Indies-have now made it to the semi-finals to be played on 3 and 4 April in Dhaka. The final is scheduled to be held on 6 April, also in Dhaka.

Badree is currently the third highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 scalps from four matches, at an average of nine and an economy rate of 5.62.

Badree’s efforts have helped him gain 109 ratings points to finish on 855, 45 ratings points ahead of teammate Narine. Before the start of the tournament, Badree was behind Narine by just one ratings point.

Meanwhile, three new entrants have made it to the top 10 of the bowlers’ table. Mitchell Starc has jumped 12 places to best-ever fourth, Sachitra Senanayake is now fifth after moving up 19 places and Ravichandran Ashwin has risen 16 places to a career-high of sixth.

Starc’s entry into the top 10 means there are now two pacemen in the top 10, with Nuwan Kulasekara in eighth (up by one) being the only other one.

In the only other positive movement inside the top 10, Shahid Afridi now shares the ninth position (up by one) with his captain Mohammad Hafeez (down by three).

Inside the top 20, the other upward movement was for Dale Steyn in 12th (up by four). Netherlands’ Mudassar Bukhari has entered the top 20 for the first-time ever and is now in 19th place after moving up 11 places.

Outside the top 20, the biggest movers are Imran Tahir in 21st (up by 36), Ravindra Jadeja in 25th  (up by 26), Mitchell McClenaghan in 32nd (up by 28), Ahsan Jamil in 33rd (up by 62), Krishmar Santokie in 34th (up by 72), Wayne Parnell in 35th (up by one), Umar Gul in 36th (up by four), Kevin O’Brien in 37th (up by five), Marlon Samuels in 40th (up by eight), Mahmudullah in 42nd  (up by 25), Kyle Mills (up by three) and Shapoor Zadran in (up by 11) in joint 47th.

England’s Alex Hales has moved up a place to second position in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen.

Hales scored an unbeaten 116 against Sri Lanka, the highest individual score thus far in the tournament. Hales is now on 834 ratings points and trails the number-one ranked Australia batsman Aaron Finch by 58 ratings points.

Also moving up a place is India’s Virat Kohli, who is now in third place, 13 ratings points behind Hales.

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera and South Africa batsman JP Duminy have made it to the top 10 for the first-time ever.

Perera has risen seven places to fifth, while Duminy has jumped eight places to eighth. Duminy who shares the position with Chris Gayle, has scored 142 runs from four matches at an average of 47.33 and a strike rate of 152.68. Gayle on the other hand, has moved up six places to return to the top 10. He has scored 140 runs from four matches at an average on 35 and a strike rate of 116.66.

Also making a return to the top 10 is Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena. The right-handed batsman has moved up five places and is now ranked 10th.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan duo Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal have made it to the top 20 of the batting table.

Shehzad has jumped 14 places to a finish in 11th place, to enter the top 20 for the first-time ever, after ending with 138 runs from four matches at an average of 46 and a strike rate of 162.35. Shehzad is also one of the two centurions of the tournament so far, with his unbeaten 111 being the second highest individual score of the tournament.

Akmal, meanwhile, has risen five places to return to the top 20 in 16th place, after scoring 128 runs from four matches at an average of 32 and a strike rate of 140.65.

In the only other positive change inside the top 20, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis moved up a place to 17th.

Outside the top 20 those moving upwards are Shakib Al Hasan in 23rd (up by four), Hashim Amla in 24th (up by 23), Brendan Taylor in 25th (up by 12), Rohit Sharma in 27th (up by 12), Lendl Simmons in 28th (up by one), Paul Stirling in 29th (up by 11), Dwayne Bravo in 31st (up by two), AB de Villiers in 37th (up by eight), Ravi Bopara in 41st (up by three), Tom Cooper in 43rd (up by 64), William Porterfield in 44th (up by 12), Anamul Haque in 45th (up by five), Dwayne Smith in 48th (up by 18), Stephan Myburgh in 49th(up by 66) and Elton Chigumbura in 50th (up by seven).

The player rankings will now be updated on Monday, 7 April, after the final of the tournament.