Axar Patel breaks into top-5 in T20I bowling rankings; Shivam Dube jumps an incredible 207 places after unbeaten fifties

Following impressive performances against Afghanistan in the ongoing series, Indian left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped to a career-best fifth place in the ICC T20I rankings for bowlers. Axar also produced economical performances in both games; in the first T20I, he conceded only 23 runs while picking two wickets, and he bettered this performance in the next, registering figures of 2/17. He was named the player of the match for his outing in the second T20I in Indore. He also rose to 16th place -- a gain of two places -- in the all-rounder's rankings.

Opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, meanwhile, rose to sixth in the latest T20I batter's rankings. Jaiswal's impactful 34-ball 68 in the second T20I in Indore resulted in him jumping to his career-best position, whereas Shivam Dube's back-to-back unbeaten innings of 60 and 63 catapulted him from 265th to 58th. Shubman Gill climbed seven places to 60th; Tilak Verma gained three spots to joint-61st, and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh jumped four places to 21st.

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Among the Afghan players, Najibullah Zadran (up one place to 46th) and Mohammad Nabi (up two places to 54th) saw improvements in the batting rankings. New Zealand's Finn Allen, thanks to his innings of 34 off 15 and 74 off 41 against Pakistan, reached 16th among batters, while teammate Tim Southee, who claimed six wickets in the first two matches, ascended eight places to 18th in the bowlers' list.

Pakistan's star batter, Babar Azam, moved up one place to fourth after consecutive half-centuries against New Zealand. In the bowling rankings, Sri Lanka spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana jointly hold the third position. Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf's five-wicket haul in two matches against New Zealand elevated him to joint 14th.

India have already secured a series win over Afghanistan and will aim to clinch a clean-sweep victory over the side on Wednesday as they gear up for the final T20I in Bengaluru. New Zealand, too, took an unassailable 3-0 lead over Pakistan with a strong win in Dunedin earlier on Wednesday.