By Nadene Smith
MELBOURNE, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) October 3, 2012: Australian star all-rounder Shane Watson has achieved the highest pinnacle of his Twenty20 International career as the stylish opening batsman and pacey fast bowler has surged in all categories at the Reliance ICC Twenty20 Rankings, updated on Wednesday.
Shane Watson has enjoyed the ICC World Twenty20 2012 the most as he is the top scoring batsman, top wicket-taking bowlers, winner of four Man of the Match awards out of five matches besides hitting most number of fours and sixes.
Prior to Australia’s last Super Eights match against Pakistan, Shane Watson had already scored 255 runs, taken 10 wickets, hit 15 sixes and 22 fours, besides enjoying the best batting average of 84 and best bowling average of 16.35 while he also boasted the best strike rate in the tournament of 169 runs per 100 balls. He has also bowled two maiden overs in the Twenty20 tournament as well.
As per the latest Reliance ICC Rankings for Twenty20 Internationals, Shane Watson has jumped by one place to second in the list of top batsmen, surged by a place to sixth in the list of top bowlers, while he kept hold of his top position in the list of best all-rounders in the shortest format of The Gentlemen’s Game.
Cricketers from the Australian continent have been the star performers in the ICC World Twenty20 2012 and an integral part of the “Unlucky” New Zealand, Brendon McCullum registered his name in the history books with the luscious century against Bangladesh in the first round of the tournament. Brendon McCullum, by dint of that match-winning hundred, is still the best batsman in the ICC T20 Rankings for Batsmen. Former West Indian skipper Chris Gayle was replaced by Shane Watson in the second place thus pushing the best hitter in T20 cricket down to third. Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jaywardene is fourth, Suresh Raina of India is fifth, Australia dashing opening batsman David Warner is at sixth, Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka and Eoin Morgan of England are jointly placed at seventh, Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka is at ninth, while New Zealand opening batsman Martin Guptill completes the top 10 batsmen in Twenty20 Internationals in the ICC Rankings.
Surprisingly enough, none of the Pakistani batsmen, who have great reputation as Twenty20 specialists, are in the top 10 list. However, Pakistani bowlers are easily found in the Reliance ICC T20 Rankings for Bowlers with the world’s best T20 bowler being Saeed Ajmal despite of getting snubbed by the International Cricket Council in the LG ICC Awards. Graeme Swann of England is second while Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka is the third best bowler in the list. The top bowlers are followed by Nathan McCullum of New Zealand at fourth, Johan Botha of South Africa at fifth, Shane Watson of Australia at sixth, Shahid Afridi of Pakistan at seventh, Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan at eighth, Nuwan Kulasekara of Sri Lanka at ninth, while Abdur Razzak of Bangladesh is ranked as the 10th best bowler in the ICC T20 Rankings.
Interestingly, Shane Watson of Australia is the best fast bowler in the ICC T20 Rankings for Bowlers as eight out of the top 10 T20 bowlers are finger and wrist spinners.
As far as the best all-rounders in Twenty20 cricket are concerned, the ICC T20 Rankings for All-Rounders has Shane Watson of Australia as the very best in the business. Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi of Pakistan are second and third in the list, respectively. Former Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan was the only performer for the team in the ICC World Twenty20 which helped him improving his rank to fourth from fifth which is now captured by Chris Gayle.
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