Ravi Bishnoi dethrones Rashid Khan to become world's No.1 T20I bowler

Ravi Bishnoi (Pic: AFP)

Young Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi on Wednesday rose to the top spot in the ICC T20I bowling chart on the back of his recent player of the series-winning performance against Australia.

The 23-year-old was India's go-to bowler in the just-concluded series against Australia, taking nine wickets from five games.

Bishnoi, who is on 699 rating points, has jumped five places to displace Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan (692) from the top slot.

Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and England's Adil Rashid, who both have 679 points, are in joint third. Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana (677) completes the top five.

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Bishnoi is the only Indian bowler in the top 10 in the shortest format even as Axar Patel climbed nine spots to be 18th.

Meanwhile, the swashbuckling Suryakumar Yadav, who captained India during their 4-1 T20I series win against Australia, held on to the top spot among batters, while opener Ruturaj Gaikwad dropped a place to be seventh.

Hardik Pandya retained the third spot in the all-rounders' list, despite missing the series against Australia due to injury.

Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team departed from Bengaluru on Tuesday night for their tour to South Africa. The Men in Blue, including Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, head coach Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Siraj among others departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru for the tour.

The all-format tour of South Africa will kickstart from December 10 with a three-match T20I series which will go on till December 14. From December 17, the ODI leg of the white-ball series will start which will conclude on September 21.

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Seniors like skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah will miss the white-ball leg of the all-format series. Suryakumar Yadav, the number one T20I batter will lead the T20I team while KL Rahul will be captaining the ODI team. Youngsters like Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Sai Sudarshan and Rajat Patidar have received call-ups for the ODI squad.

Senior players will return for the two-match Test series, with the first Test in Centurion from December 26 onwards and the second Test at Cape Town from January 3 next year. This red-ball leg of the series will be the most anticipated one for Indian fans as they are yet to register a Test series win in South Africa.

(With agency inputs)