KATHMANDU, June 25: The Nepal Men’s National Cricket Team’s recent European tour has led to significant changes in ICC rankings for several of its cricketers, especially spinners Lalit Rajbanshi and Sandeep Lamichhane, who saw notable improvements in their standings.
Dipendra Singh Airee remains Nepal’s top-ranked player, holding steady at third in the ICC T20I all-rounder rankings, just one point behind Australia’s Marcus Stoinis and trailing India's Hardik Pandya who leads the chart.
In the same category, Kushal Bhurtel climbed six spots to reach the 32nd rank. However, Gulsan Jha slipped eight places to 61st, skipper Rohit Paudel dropped five places to 66th, and Kushal Malla, who was not part of the tour, fell six spots to 68th. Karan KC also slipped one place, now ranking 81st.
Four Nepali players feature in ICC T20I player rankings table
In the ODI all-rounder rankings, Airee dropped one position to 54th. Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane remained at 56th and 59th respectively. Karan KC fell five places to 65th, Kushal Malla slid six positions to 74th, while Lalit Rajbanshi improved three places to 82nd. Gulsan Jha dropped two places to 92nd, and Aarif Sheikh moved up two spots to 99th.
In the ODI batting rankings, Bhurtel moved up one spot to 87th, Aarif Sheikh jumped 13 spots to 90th, Aasif Sheikh dropped four spots to 94th, and Rohit Paudel slid one position to 99th.
For T20I batters, Dipendra Singh Airee stayed at 61st. Rohit and Asif each dropped two places to 66th and 78th, respectively. Bhurtel gained 10 spots to reach 83rd.
Among Nepali bowlers, Lalit Rajbanshi now holds the highest rankings in both ODI and T20I formats. He climbed five positions to 48th in ODI bowling, while Sandeep Lamichhane improved by one place to 54th. Airee dropped three spots to 79th, Karan KC fell seven places to 84th, and Sompal Kami stayed at 94th.
In T20I bowling, Rajbanshi jumped 29 spots to reach 54th, and Lamichhane surged 41 places to 75th. Airie dropped one position to 81st.
As for team rankings, Nepal currently sits 17th in ODIs and 18th in T20Is. During the European tour, Nepal played four ODIs and four T20Is as part of a tri-series against Scotland and the Netherlands.
