Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Afridi breaks into world’s top ten

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi has climbed five places in the International Cricket Council (ICC) player rankings for One-Day International (ODI) bowlers to reach the ninth position.



Afridi is also among the top five all-rounders in ODIs, occupying third position in the rankings. Besides the captain, other Pakistanis to have improved their rankings include off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, jumping nine places to 20th among bowlers, while Mohammad Hafeez leap-frogged 25 places to reach the 36th position.

Among the batsmen, Test captain Misbahul Haq improved his position by three spots, jumping to the 36th after he remained Pakistan’s highest scorer in the World Cup.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is the top-ranked bowler in the rankings while South Africa’s Hashim Amla is the number one batsman. Bangladesh captain Shakibal Hasan leads the all-rounders’ rankings.

In the team standings, India have closed the gap with ICC ODI Championship table-toppers Australia after their triumphant World Cup campaign, the winners are now just seven points behind Australia.

However, Australia will have the opportunity to increase their lead over India in the three-match series against Bangladesh, which is starting next week.

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