ICC rankings: Varun Chakaravarthy becomes new No. 1 T20I bowler

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Dubai: India spinner Varun Chakaravarthy claimed the top spot in ICC’s latest T20I bowlers rankings after dethroning New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy from the position. The spinner jumped three places to achieve the position for the first time in his career. With that, he became only the third Indian bowler after Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi to claim the No. 1 spot in the ICC T20I bowlers’ rankings. The 34-year-old bowled a clutch spell against the UAE in India’s Asia Cup 2025 campaign opener. Chakaravarthy registered figures of 1-4 in two overs while senior spinner Kuldeep Yadav ran through the opposition’s batting lineup. In India’s second Group A game against arch-rivals Pakistan, the leg-spinner picked up one scalp in his four-over spell while conceding 24 runs to maintain a sharp economy of 6.00. India are now at the top in the Test and T20I bowlers’ rankings, with Jasprit Bumrah reigning comfortably as the No. 1 bowler in the red-ball format. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav, who has been heading India’s spin-attack at the ongoing Asia Cup, gained massive points to jump a whopping 16 positions up to the 23rd spot. While Australia’s Adam Zampa jumped one spot to fourth, Nuwan Thushara of Sri Lanka made a significant gain to jump six spots up claim the No. 6 position. Other notable gainers in the latest rankings are Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed （11 spots up） and Sufiyan Muqeem （four spots up） who jumped to the 16th and 11th positions, respectively. As for the batter’s rankings, Abhishek Sharma continues to dominate the No. 1 spot and has garnered a career-high rating of 884. England batters Phil Salt and Jos Buttler moved one place up each to take up the second and third ranks, respectively. While Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav dropped one place to seventh, Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka replaced him at sixth. Dewald Brevis, after some fiery knocks, is close to entering the top 10. He’s currently ranked 11th. IANS