Ahead of IND vs NZ 1st T20I, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh CLIMB UP in latest ICC T20 player rankings

Team India captain for the New Zealand T20Is Hardik Pandya has gained big in the latest ICC T20 rankings for batters. The 29-year-old has jumped fifteen places from 71st to 56th in the latest rankings updated by ICC. Hardik had a good outing in the T20 World Cup 2022 that concluded recently in Australia where India reached the semi-finals before getting knocked out. Hardik's teammate Arshdeep Singh has also gained big in the ICC T20 bowlers rankings. He has moved 32 spots from 54th to 22nd in the latest rankings. This big jump is thanks to his 10 wickets in Australia at the T20 World Cup 2022.

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Sam Curran, who was named as Player of the Tournament, jumped 11 spots on the T20I list for bowlers courtesy of his 13 scalps with the ball, while Afghanistan speedster Fazalhaq Farooqi made a 16-place jump from 36th to 20th. Pakistan's pace machine Shaheen Shah Afridi also made his move up the T20I bowler rankings during the tournament with a 21-spot jump from 39th to 18th, while teenage teammate Naseem Shah rose 70 places to 30th overall.

"He is just not only tactically sound, but he is very calm on the field." _

India legend heaps praise on Hardik Pandya head of the T20I series against New Zealand.#NZvIND https://t.co/T5gwOCkbPq — ICC (@ICC) November 18, 2022

Alex Hales saw an incredible jump of almost 100 spots to move to touching distance of top 10. He is now placed at 10th spot in the ICC T20 batters rankings. Hales has benefitted from his brilliant World Cup where he smahed 212 runs at 147 strike rate. South Africa's Rilee Rossouw (21st to seventh) and New Zealand's Finn Allen (30th to 11th) also made huge gains in the rankings thanks to a great World Cup for them.

Pakistan duo Iftikhar Ahmed (74th to equal 53rd) and Shan Masood (100th to 59th) also made giant gains in the batters' rankings. Suryakumar Yadav remains at the top of the batters rankings while Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga is the top bowler in world in T20Is.