DUBAI: Hardik Pandya rose two places to become the first Indian to occupy the number one spot in the ICC's T20I all-rounders' rankings on Wednesday, as the country's cricketers improved their standings following their title-winning performance in the just-concluded World Cup.
The 30-year-old, who handed telling blows to South Africa in the T20 World Cup final on July 29 by dismissing half-centurion Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in his 3/20 effort, climbed up two places to go level with Sri Lankan star Wanindu Hasaranga as the top-ranked men's T20I all-rounder.
Following a topsy-turvy IPL where he was the target of fans' boos as Mumbai Indians' new captain, Pandya turned it around in style in the T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean.
Pandya made impactful cameos down the order with the bat and made breakthroughs with the ball when the team needed him to. He finished with 144 runs at a batting strike-rate of over 150 and also took 11 wickets in the tournament.
His best performance came in the final when he triggered a dramatic South African collapse after the Proteas needed 30 runs from 30 balls with Klaasen in full flow.
Pandya gave the decisive blow by dismissing Klaasen in the first ball of the 17th over.
He went on to bowl the tense final over and defended 16 runs to help India pip South Africa by seven runs and win their second T20 World Cup title.
Big mover Bumrah
India's star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who won the Player of the Tournament award at the T20 World Cup for his 15 wickets, moved up 12 spots to be just outside the top-10. He's at 12th, his highest position since the end of 2020.
There were other movements in the top 10 of the T20I all-rounders' rankings, with Marcus Stoinis , Sikandar Raza, Shakib Al Hasan and Liam Livingstone rising by one spot each.
Mohammad Nabi moved down four spots to go out of the top five.
In the T20I bowling rankings, South Africa's Anrich Nortje rose seven places to a career-best second spot to be just behind top-ranked Adil Rashid with 675 rating points.