Thaindian News

Dubai, Oct 24 (IANS) England’s Eoin Morgan and Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka have been rated the top batsman and bowler in the inaugural ICC T20 rankings announced here Monday.

Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh are the only Indians to figure in the top ten rankings of batsmen and bowlers. Raina is at the fifth place in the batsmen’s rankings while Harbhajan ranked ninth place among the bowlers.

Australia’s Shane Watson was has been ranked the top all-rounder.

In all, Australia and South Africa have four batsmen each inside the top 20, with spinners dominating the top 10 bowlers’ list. Three Pakistanis are in top 10 all-rounders’ category.

In 18 T20Is, Morgan has scored 569 runs at an average of 47.41 and only former Australian batsmen Matthew Hayden (308 runs at 51.33) and Andrew Symonds (337 runs at 48.14) have better averages than the left-hander.

While Morgan is the only batsman to boast a rating of over 800 points on the day of the launch, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and Kevin Pietersen of England are close on heels on second and third postion.

McCullum is on 799 ratings points while Pietersen is sitting on 793 ratings points.

The 26-year-old Mendis leads the bowling field followed by England’s Graeme Swann and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan.

Mendis’ bowling figures of six for 16 against Australia in Pallekele on 8 August 2011 stands as the best bowling figures in T20Is to date.

“I feel honoured and humbled to be ranked as the top bowler in a list which includes some of the finest current bowlers,” he said.

The salient feature of the bowlers’ ranking is that seven spinners figure inside the top 10.

New Zealand’s left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, who has recently retired from the shortest version of the game said: “I believe spin bowlers have adapted to T20 cricket better than most.

“To see spinners succeed in a tough environment is great for the game and means bowlers can enjoy Twenty20 cricket, most of the time.”

Among all-rounders, Watson have former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi and teammate David Hussey at second and third position.

“With so many fantastic players in world cricket it is a great honor to be recognised as the number-one all-rounder in the international Twenty20 cricket,” he said.