Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi back on top of ICC T20 rankings

Cape Town - Tabraiz Shamsi's disappointment of not being snapped up at last weekend's Indian Premier League auction has been softened with his return to the top of the ICC T20 bowling rankings on Wednesday.

Shamsi, who is currently playing for the Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge, replaces Wanindu Hasaranga at the summit.

The Sri Lankan all-rounder, who was signed up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a massive Rs 10.75 crore ($1.42million) has slipped down to third place. In the recent series against Australia, Hasaranga took five wickets in the first two matches, but having missed the final match due to testing positive for Covid-19, it wasn’t enough for him to continue in top spot.

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The biggest mover on the rankings is though Australian seam bowler Josh Hazlewood. After long being viewed as primarily a red-ball bowler, Hazlewood's transformation over the past 12 months has been nothing short of sensational.

He moved up to second behind Shamsi after returning his best-ever T20I figures in the series opener against Sri Lanka, taking 4/12 in a spell, before capping another haul of 3/22 last week, with a match-sealing Super Over that went for just five runs.

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