New Zealand's middle-order batter Mark Chapman and Pakistan's Iftikhar Ahmed have achieved career-best positions in the latest ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings released on Wednesday. The rankings were updated after the five-match series between New Zealand and Pakistan ended in a 2-2 tie.
Chapman, who played a crucial role in New Zealand's series-tying win, moved up 48 places to 35th in the rankings. His unbeaten knocks of 71 off 42 deliveries and 104 off 57 balls in the last two matches helped him finish with a series-topping aggregate of 290 runs. Meanwhile, Iftikhar, who scored 36 in the final match, has jumped six places to a joint-38th position.
India's Suryakumar Yadav continues to lead the batters' rankings list, and Chapman is the only New Zealand batter in the top ten. Iftikhar is the third-highest ranked Pakistan batter after wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and captain Babar Azam, who are ranked second and third, respectively.
Apart from Chapman and Iftikhar, other players to move up the T20I rankings after the series are New Zealand's Chad Bowes and Ish Sodhi, and Pakistan's Imad Wasim. Bowes moved up 82 places to 118th in the batting rankings, Sodhi moved up two places to 14th in the bowling rankings, while Imad moved up 15 places to 127th in the batting rankings and 120 places to 93rd in the bowling rankings. He also moved up 44 places to 24th among all-rounders.
In the weekly Men's ODI rankings update, which considers performances in the Oman-Nepal match of the ACC Men's Premier Cup in Kirtipur, Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane moved up one slot to 22nd position among bowlers after finishing with three for 45, while Kushal Malla's 108 off 64 balls lifted him 35 places to 110th position. Oman's left-arm spinner Zeeshan Maqsood moved up two places to 49th in the bowling rankings.