ICC Rankings: South Africa stars on the charge in latest update

South Africa batters Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen have made huge gains in the ICC Rankings after helping their team complete a memorable 3-0 series win over India.

De Kock is in the top five for the first time since the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 after aggregating 229 runs that included a match-winning 124 in the final match in Cape Town.

The wicketkeeper-batter has moved up four places after his Player of the Series effort.

Van der Dussen, who scored 218 runs, has advanced 10 places to reach a career-best 10th position.

Captain Temba Bavuma has also made huge progress, reaching a career-best 59th position from 80th before the latest weekly update which also includes the Afghanistan-Netherlands series and the last match of the Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe series.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan, the leading scorer for India against South Africa with 169 runs, has moved up one place to 15th in the list led by Pakistan captain Babar Azam with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in second and joint-third positions, respectively.

Rishabh Pant is up five places to 82nd.

Afghanistan batter Rahmat Shah’s aggregate of 153 runs against the Netherlands has lifted him seven places to joint-36th while Hashmatullah Shahidi is up nine places to 53rd.

For the Netherlands, Scott Edwards’s series-topping 208 runs see him move up 97 places to 100th. Charith Asalanka of Sri Lanka is another one to progress, from 52nd to a career-best 46th position.

South Africa’s bowlers too have significant gains in Wednesday’s update.

Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi is back in the top 20 after five wickets in the series and spinner Keshav Maharaj is at a career-best 33rd position. Andile Phehlukwayo is up seven places to 52nd after taking six wickets in the series.

In