Vikrant Shekhawat : Dec 24, 2020, 08:11 AM
Cricket Desk: 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. India skipper Virat Kohli has also moved up one spot and he now currently sits on the seventh place in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen. Seifert has advanced 24 slots to a career-best ninth position after a fine run in the home series which saw him top the aggregate with 176 runs, while Southee's six wickets in the series have lifted him from 13th to the 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.Shaheen Shah Afridi has also attained a career-best 16th position in the rankings for the shortest format, while Hafeez and Rizwan also have major gains in the latest update after New Zealand-Pakistan series.For Pakistan, Hafeez's 140 runs, which included an unbeaten 99 in the second match, saw him gain 14 places to reach 33rd 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 ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings, Pakistan has lost three points and New Zealand has gained three, but the two retain their fourth and sixth positions, respectively.