New Zealand opener Tim Seifert and fast bowler Tim Southee have attained career-best positions after playing important roles in a 2-1 series win over Pakistan.
- Shaheen Afridi attains career best 16th position, Hafeez and Rizwan also make major gains in latest update after New Zealand-Pakistan series
Seifert has advanced 24 slots to a career-best ninth position after a fine run in the home series saw him top the aggregate with 176 runs while Southee’s six wickets in the series have lifted him from 13th to seventh position.
Seifert, who was named player of the series with the high point being a career-best 84 not out off 63 balls in the second match in Hamilton, had a previous highest ranking of 32nd in August this year.
Southee’s six wickets, which included a haul of four for 21 in the second match, enabled him to better his previous best of 10th position accomplished in November last year. Southee has thus reached the top 10 in all three formats during his career, having career-bests of fourth in Tests and ninth in ODIs.
Devon Conway (up 10 places to 62nd) and Glenn Phillips (up 15 places to a career-best 72nd) are the other New Zealand players to move up in the batting list while fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn has progressed from 134th to 92nd place after finishing with five wickets in the series.
For Pakistan, Mohammad Hafeez’s 140 runs, which included an unbeaten 99 in the second match, see him gain 14 places to reach 33rd position. Mohammad Rizwan’s 158 runs, including a match-winning 89 in the final game, have lifted him 152 places to 158th position.
Pakistan’s bowlers had more to cheer about, with Faheem Ashraf moving up 22 places to 13th position, Shaheen Afridi gaining up 11 ranks to reach a career-best 16th position and Harif Rauf’s five wickets in the series helping him climb 42 places to 67th on the chart.
In the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, Pakistan have lost three points and New Zealand have gained three, but the two retain their fourth and sixth positions, respectively.
MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings (as of 23 December, after the New Zealand-Pakistan series):
Batting (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | S/R | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Dawid Malan | England | 915! | 53.43 | 149 | 915 v SA at Cape Town 2020 |
| 2 | ( – ) | Babar Azam | Pakistan | 820 | 50.93 | 130 | 896 v Eng at Cardiff 2019 |
| 3 | ( – ) | Lokesh Rahul | India | 816 | 44.05 | 145 | 854 v Eng at Old Trafford 2018 |
| 4 | ( – ) | Aaron Finch | Australia | 808 | 37.70 | 154 | 901 v Zim at Harare 2018 |
| 5 | ( – ) | Rassie van der Dussen | South Africa | 744*! | 38.71 | 137 | 744 v Eng at Cape Town 2020 |
| 6 | (+1) | Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 701 | 33.07 | 158 | 838 v SL at Adelaide 2019 |
| 7 | (+1) | Virat Kohli | India | 697 | 50.48 | 138 | 897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014 |
| 8 | (-2) | Colin Munro | New Zealand | 695 | 31.34 | 156 | 830 v Pak at Dubai 2018 |
| 9 | (+24) | Tim Seifert | New Zealand | 685! | 27.83 | 139 | 685 v Pak at Napier 2020 |
| 10 | (-1) | Hazratullah Zazai | Afghanistan | 676* | 40.71 | 155 | 736 v WI at Lucknow 2019 |
Other selected rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | S/R | Highest Rating |
| 33 | (+14) | Mohammad Hafeez | Pakistan | 516 | 27.98 | 121 | 650 v SL at Dubai 2013 |
| 62= | (+10) | Devon Conway | New Zealand | 431* | 58.00 | 150 | 459 v WI at Bay Oval 2020 |
| 72= | (+15) | Glenn Phillips | New Zealand | 400*! | 24.84 | 137 | 400 v Pak at Napier 2020 |
| 158= | (+152) | Mohammad Rizwan | Pakistan | 232*! | 22.35 | 109 | 232 v NZ at Napier 2020 |
Bowling (top 10)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Eco | Highest Rating |
| 1 | ( – ) | Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | 736 | 12.62 | 6.14 | 816 v Ban at Dehradun 2018 |
| 2 | ( – ) | Mujeeb-ur-Rahman | Afghanistan | 730 | 17.72 | 6.15 | 745 v Ire at Greater Noida 2020 |
| 3 | ( – ) | Adil Rashid | England | 700 | 25.80 | 7.52 | 716 v WI at St Kitts 2019 |
| 4 | ( – ) | Adam Zampa | Australia | 685 | 21.23 | 6.60 | 720 v SL at Brisbane 2019 |
| 5 | ( – ) | Tabraiz Shamsi | South Africa | 680 | 33.28 | 7.68 | 699 v Eng at Paarl 2020 |
| 6 | ( – ) | Ashton Agar | Australia | 664 | 20.86 | 6.87 | 717 v Eng at Southampton 2020 |
| 7 | (+6) | Tim Southee | New Zealand | 636* | 25.95 | 8.42 | 638 v Eng at Nelson 2019 |
| 8 | (+1) | Sheldon Cottrell | West Indies | 634 | 21.81 | 7.89 | 648 v NZ at Auckland 2020 |
| 9 | (-2) | Mitchell Santner | New Zealand | 628 | 22.03 | 7.49 | 724 v Pak at Wellington 2018 |
| 10 | ( – ) | Chris Jordan | England | 618 | 25.31 | 8.70 | 659 v NZ at Wellington 2019 |
Other selected rankings
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Avge | Eco | Highest Rating |
| 13 | (+22) | Faheem Ashraf | Pakistan | 609 | 23.06 | 7.20 | 656 v SA at Cape Town 2019 |
| 16 | (+11) | Shaheen Afridi | Pakistan | 597! | 23.77 | 7.78 | 597 v NZ at Napier 2020 |
| 67 | (+42) | Haris Rauf | Pakistan | 422*! | 23.25 | 8.65 | 422 v NZ at Napier 2020 |
| 92= | (+42) | Scott Kuggeleijn | New Zealand | 373*! | 33.38 | 9.07 | 373 v Pak at Napier 2020 |
All-rounders (top five)
| Rank | (+/-) | Player | Team | Pts | Highest Rating |
| 1 | (-) | Mohammad Nabi | Afghanistan | 294 | 355 v Ban at Mirpur 2019 |
| 2 | (-) | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 268 | 409 v Pak at Mirpur 2015 |
| 3 | (-) | Glenn Maxwell | Australia | 220 | 368 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2016 |
| 4 | (-) | Richie Berrington | Scotland | 194 | 204 v Ire at Malahide 2019 |
| 5 | (-) | Sean Williams | Zimbabwe | 190 | 225 v Nepal at Singapore 2019 |
