India spinner Varun Chakravarthy continued his reign at the top of the ICC T20I bowler Rankings after solid displays in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa. He also reached a career-high rating after his third-consecutive two-wicket haul against the Proteas.
Chakravarthy has so far taken six wickets across the first three games of the series and has consistently been one of India's top performers when it comes to the bowling department. His performance in the third T20I was especially brilliant as he finished his quota of four overs with figures of 2/11 as the Men in Blue bundled out South Africa for just 117 runs.
Chakravarthy far ahead of Duffy
The 34-year-old currently has a 119-point gap to New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy, who sits second on the rankings, Notably, not only is Chakravarthy the Indian bowler to record the most rating points in T20Is, but he is also the only Indian player present on the list of the top 10 bowlers with the most rating points on the T20I rankings.
Bowlers with the most rating points on T20I rankings -
1. Umar Gul (Pakistan) - 865 rating points
2. Samuel Badree (West Indies) - 864 rating points
3.. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) - 858 rating points
4. Sunil Narine (West Indies) - 832 rating points
5. Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) - 828 rating points
6. Tabraiz Shamsi (South Africa) - 827 rating points
7. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) - 822 rating points
8. Varun Chakravarthy (India) - 818 rating points
Arshdeep and Kuldeep rise as well
On the other hand, Arshdeep Singh also made significant gains on the T20I bowler rankings and climbed four places to reach the 16th position with 632 rating points. Kuldeep Yadav also rose a place to end up at the 23rd place, while South Africa's Marco Jansen climbed 14 places to sit just behind him at the 25th position.
Other South African bowlers who made significant gains on the rankings were Lungi Ngidi and Ottneil Baartman. While the former moved up 11 places to reach the 44th spot, the latter rose from outside the top 100 all the way up to the 68th position. It remains to be seen as to how the bowlers will fare in the fourth T20I of the series between India and South Africa that will be held in Lucknow on December 17.