Hardik Pandya has earned the distinction of being the first Indian to occupy the No. 1 spot for T20I allrounders, as per the latest International Cricket Council rankings. He climbed two spots to join Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga at the top following his all-round show in India’s glorious T20 World Cup campaign, where they went unbeaten to lift the trophy.
Pandya scored 144 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151, while also picking up 11 wickets at 17.36 in the West Indies and USA. That included a match-winning haul of 3 for 20 in the final against South Africa, which India won by seven runs to clinch the silverware. Pandya’s finest performance with the bat in the World Cup came against Bangladesh, as he crafted 50* off 27 balls.
South Africa had suffered a couple of early blows chasing 177 in the T20 World Cup final but a counter attacking Tristan Stubbs and a vigilant Quinton de Kock put them back on track. Heinrich Klaasen nearly nipped the chase in the bud with his 27-ball 52, butchering the spinners to prune the equation down to an easily manageable 30 off 30. However, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya coerced South Africa into a bottlejob in the last five overs to seal a seven-run victory that handed India their first ICC title since 2013.
Massive gains for the #T20WorldCup finalists in the recent ICC Men's Rankings update 🤩
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— ICC (@ICC) July 3, 2024
