The current bowling T20I ranking offered by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is led by Kangaroo pacer Josh Hazlewood. However, an individual wicket-taker will not define the strength of the overall bowling arsenal of any Team at the 2022 T20 WC.
Since wickets are very important in T20Is and bowlers often hunt in tandem, the ICC has ranked the strike bowling (wicket-taking) combination of all 16 sides taking part in a pair of 2 bowlers each.
Hereon, we’ll look at different teams’ strike bowling rankings as shared by the ICC on October 12.
Team-wise Strike-bowlers in 2022 T20 WC (Rank 01 to 05)
1. Afghanistan (Mujeeb Ur-Rahman and Rashid Khan)
ICC T20I Bowling Ranking
Mujeeb Ur-Rahman: 8.
Rashid Khan: 2.
Rashid has the 2nd-most T20I wickets (118) in history while also boating of a really good bowling strike-rate (13.6). Together with Mujeeb (SR 16.2) who controls the powerplay overs of the game, Rashid makes Team AFG the most potent strike-bowling side at the 2022 T20 WC.
Both spinners are hard to get away and will be even more dangerous in Australia’s big cricket grounds.
2. India (Bhuvi and Chahal)
ICC T20I Bowling Ranking
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar: 12.
Yuzi Chahal: 34.
Together, Bhuvaneshwar and Chahal make India the 2nd most fearful bowling side in the upcoming T20 WC. While Chahal is an attacking bowler, Bhuvi can alternate between containing runs at death and looking for wickets in the PowerPlay.
Bhuvi and Yuzi together have 170 T20I scalps and impressive strike-rates of 19.2 and 18.2 respectively.
3. South Africa (Lungi Ngidi and Shamsi)
ICC T20I Bowling Ranking
Tabraiz Shami: 5.
Lungi Ngidi: 37.
Since the article ranks the ‘strike-bowlers’ (wicket takers) of the team, Lungi Ngidi speeds past Kagiso Rabada for South Africa.
Ngidi has a bowling SR of 12.4 (best of all having 50 or more wickets) and will be a huge threat to the opposition team in the T20 WC 2022.
Tabraiz Shamsi, who was the top-ranked ICC T20I bowler not long ago, has a strike-rate of 17.90 and completes the strike bowling pair of RSA.
4. Australia (Hazlewood and Zampa)
ICC T20I Bowling Ranking
Josh Hazlewood: 1.
Zampa: 4.
Ever since his stint with CSK a couple of years ago, Josh Hazlewood has become a brilliant T20I fast-bowler. Josh has a career strike-rate of 15.10.
Thanks to him and out-and-out wicket taker Zampa (who strikes every 17th ball), the defending champs are the 4th ranked team when it comes to strike-bowler combination at the 2022 T20 WC.
5. New Zealand (Boult and Lockie Ferguson)
ICC T20I Bowling Ranking
Lockie Ferguson: 23
Trent Boult: 26
Boult and Ferguson have T20I strike-rates of 16.5 and 14.1 respectively. Though their bowling styles are very different, they together make Team NZ one of the best strike-bowling attacks for 2022 T20 WC.
T20 WC 2022 team ranking based on strike bowling combination (Rank 06 to 16):
6. Sri Lanka (Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahesh Theekshana)
ICC T20I Bowling Ranking:
Hasaranga: 3 Theekshana: 7
Career Strike-Rate:
Hasaranga: 13.1 Theekshana: 27.3
7. England (Mark Wood and Reece Topley)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Topley: 14 Mark Wood: 32
Career Strike-Rate:
Topley: 20.9 Wood: 14.3
8. Pakistan (Haris Rauf and Md. Wasim)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Rauf: 15 Wasim: 74
Career Strike-Rate:
Rauf: 16.9 Wasim: 13.7
9. Bangladesh (Mustafizur Rehman and Shakib Al Hasan)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Mustafizur: 39 Shakib: 22
Career Strike-Rate:
Mustafizur: 16.5 Shakib: 18.2
10. West Indies (Obed McCoy and Jason Holder)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
McCoy: 41 Holder: 43
Career Strike-Rate:
McCoy: 13.1 Holder: 20.3
11. Ireland (Joshua Little and Mark Adair)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Little: 46 Adair: 55
Career Strike-Rate:
Little: 19.4 Mark Adair: 15
Person opinion: They’ll do much better than most bowling duos above them in this article.
12. Zimbabwe (Luke Jongwe and Tendai Chatara)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Jongwe: 60 Chatara: 68
Career Strike-rate:
Jongwe: 14.2 Chatara: 18.70
13. Namibia (Jan Frylick and JJ Smit)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Frylick: 67 JJ Smit: 79
Career Strike-Rate:
Frylick: 13.6 Smit: 16.4
14. Scotland (Mark Watt and Safyaan Sharif)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Sharif: 65 Watt: 29
Career Strike-Rate:
Sharif: 18.3 Watt: 18.2
15. Netherlands (Fred Klaasen and Brandon Glover)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Glover: 72 Klaasen: 80
Career Strike-Rate:
Glover: 14.2 Fred Klaasen: 18.1
16. UAE (Zahoor Khan and Junaid Siddique)
ICC T20I bowling ranking:
Khan: 69 Siddique: Not available.
Career Strike-Rate:
Khan: 17.5 Siddique: 18.2