STAR PERFORMER: India spinner Varun Chakaravarthy in action during the ongoing Asia Cup. Photo: ICC
DUBAI:
India spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has been rewarded for his consistent form in 2025 by becoming the No.1 ranked bowler on the latest ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings.
Chakaravarthy is just the third Indian bowler to top the ICC T20I bowling rankings, after Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi.
Chakaravarthy has only become a mainstay in India’s T20I lineup inside the last 12 months, but the 34-year-old has shown his class with a string of strong performances that has helped him overtake New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy at the top of the T20I bowling rankings.
Fresh from a second career five-wicket haul against England at the start of the year, Chakaravarthy has looked in good touch at the ongoing Asia Cup where he has two wickets from as many matches against the UAE and Pakistan.
Chakaravarthy collected figures of 1/4 in India’s tournament opener against the hosts and backed that up with an equally impressive haul of 1/24 from four overs in the commanding victory over Pakistan four days later.
It proved enough for Chakaravarthy to rise three spots to claim the premier position for the first time, with Duffy dropping to second, West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein remaining in third and Australia’s Adam Zampa rising to fourth overall.
There was plenty of movement behind this quartet, with Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Thushara (up six spots to sixth) and Pakistan duo Sufiyan Muqeem (up four rungs to 11th) and Abrar Ahmed (up 11 places to 16th) all gaining ground, while India spinner Kuldeep Yadav rose a whopping 16 rungs to 23rd.
There is a new career-high rating for No.1 ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma following his innings of 31 against Pakistan, though there are a host of big names eyeing off his spot at the top following some decent efforts during the week.
England openers Phil Salt (second) and Jos Buttler (third) both gain one spot to keep in touch with Abhishek, while South Africa duo Dewald Brevis (up two places to 11th) and Aiden Markram (up 10 spots to equal 30th) make some ground too.Sri Lanka right-hander Pathum Nissanka (up one place to sixth) and Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (up two spots to 19th) make gains following good innings at the Asia Cup, with Bangladesh’s Tanzid Hasan (up four rungs to 35th) and India Test captain Shubman Gill (up four spots to 39th) also following suit.
India star Hardik Pandya remains at the top of the rankings for T20I all-rounders, with Pakistan’s Saim Ayub (up four places to equal fifth) and Abhishek (up four spots to 14th) among the big movers in that category this week.