Australian allrounder Glenn Maxwell rises to top of the world

Dubai: Glenn Maxwell’s match-winning exploits in Sri Lanka this week have seen the player of the series rise to the No.1 spot among allrounders on the International Cricket Council’s Twenty20 player rankings.

The 27-year-old also catapulted up the batting rankings to a career-best third position, sitting behind India superstar Virat Kohli in first place and good friend Aaron Finch in second.

The Australian blasted scores of 145 not out and 66 respectively to earn player of the match honours in each of the visiting side’s T20 victories to conclude the Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka.

Maxwell’s epic blitz in Kandy brought him within reach of Finch’s record of 156 for the highest individual score in a T20 international, before finishing 11 runs short of the mark when Australia’s innings came to a close at 3-263 – the equal-highest team total in all of professional T20 cricket.

The powerful right-hander finished with 211 runs at the scorching strike rate of 224.46 across the two hits on the island nation and has now resulted in recognition via the official player rankings.

Maxwell jumped 16 spots in the batting rankings and also moved ahead of Shakib Al Hasan and Shahid Afridi to claim the title of the world’s best allrounder in the game’s shortest format.