Gayle’s sixes record, AB de Villiers picks favourites for the World Cup and more - Cricket News Today, 28th February 2019

Hazratullah Zazai breaks into top 10 T20I batsmen; Maxwell, KL Rahul move up the ladder as well

Hazratullah Zazai who is termed as Afghanistan’s Chris Gayle has been one of the talking points in world cricket over the last week or so. The 20-year-old Afghan opener blazed his way through to a record-breaking 162 in a T20I against Ireland (second-highest T20I score by a batsman). Overall, in the series, the left-hander scored 204 runs at an average of 102.00 and a strike-rate of 240.00. This performance helped him gain 31 places in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen. He broke into the top 10 for the first time and now, occupies the seventh place. Meanwhile, Rashid Khan continues to be the No. 1 ranked T20I bowler and Mohammad Nabi also retained his No. 3 spot in the allrounder’s rankings.

Meanwhile, Glenn Maxwell and KL Rahul moved up the T20I rankings as well. Maxwell’s series-winning performance against India where he scored 56 and 113 not out, leading Australia to a 2-0 series win helped him climb up the ladder. He is now placed third. On the other hand, KL Rahul made a very good return to the national side as he scored 50 and 47 in the two games. Hence, he has gained four places to occupy the 6th place.