United News of Bangladesh

Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza has regained his position as the world's number one T20I all-rounder in the latest ICC weekly rankings update, rewarding his stellar performances that led his team to the T20 World Cup Super Eight stage. Raza reclaimed the throne from Pakistan's Saim Ayub, reaching 294 rating points compared to Ayub's 281. The two players have frequently swapped the top spot in recent times. The Zimbabwean skipper secured his return to the summit after playing crucial knocks of 45 against Sri Lanka and 27 against the West Indies during the group stage. ICC announces women's T20 World Cup 2026 schedule: Bangladesh drawn in tough Group 1 Further down the all-rounder list, India's Shivam Dube advanced two places to seventh, while Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi climbed three spots to eighth. In the batting rankings, India's Abhishek Sharma retained his number one spot despite enduring a dismal run of form in the ongoing tournament. After registering three consecutive ducks in the group stage and scoring just 15 against South Africa in the Super Eight, Sharma still holds an 815-point rating, keeping him 61 points clear of England's Phil Salt in second. Meanwhile, Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan, the tournament's leading run-scorer so far, moved up two places to third. ICC opens hearings into former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte India's Ishan Kishan climbed to fifth, while South Africa's Dewald Brevis broke into the top ten, jumping ten spots to ninth. England captain Harry Brook also surged ten places to 18th following his match-winning century against Pakistan. The bowling rankings saw Indian spinner Varun Chakaravarthy hold onto the top position. However, South African pacer Corbin Bosch made a massive leap of 21 places to reach third after claiming seven wickets in four matches. West Indies fast bowler Matthew Forde also enjoyed a meteoric rise, jumping 23 spots to seventh, right ahead of India's Jasprit Bumrah, who climbed seven places to eighth. West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie advanced 17 spots to sit tied for 21st.

India's former skipper Rahul Dravid, once called 'The Wall', is likely to succeed Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the country's cricket team. According to local media reports, 48-year-old Dravid has agreed to take over as the chief coach of India's national cricket team from Shastri after the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman. Quoting unnamed sources, the reports said that India's all-powerful cricket board chief Sourav Ganguly spoke with Dravid "and the latter has agreed" to coach Indian players. READ: Chennai beats Kolkata in final to clinch 4th IPL title Shastri's tenure as India's head coach ends with the T20 World Cup, slated to take place in the two Gulf states from October 17 to November 14. Dravid is currently the director of the national cricket academy of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He will have to step down from his position to take over as the national cricket coach. Popularly known as "Mr Dependable", Dravid, alongside Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, were part of a formidable batting line-up that steered India to win many matches at home and abroad. All have retired from cricket. Dravid made his Test debut against England in 1996 with a brilliant knock of 95 at Lord’s. In a career spanning 16 years, Dravid scored 13,288 runs in 164 Tests. He accumulated 10,889 runs in 344 one-day internationals. Not only Shastri, India's charismatic skipper Virat Kohli will also step down as the country's T20 international captain after the T20 World Cup. READ: Youth ODI: Bangladesh lose series opener against Sri Lanka "I have decided to step down as the T20 captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October," the 32-year-old said in a social media post last month.