Travis Head replaces Suryakumar as top T20 batter, Bumrah moves to 24 in ICC rankings
Dubai, Jun 26: Australia opener Travis head on Wednesday toppled India's Suryakumar Yadav as the number one batter in the latest ICC T20 rankings.
Suryakumar was holding the number one spot since December 2023 but Head's splendid run at the T20 World Cup catapulted him to the top even as his team has been knocked out.
Head scored 255 runs with two half centuries, including a 76 against India in a Super Eight contest.
The Australian is two points ahead of Suryakumar (842 points) who dropped a spot to second. However, he has a chance to reclaim the numero uno position as India's campaign at the T20 World Cup is still alive.
England's Phil Salt and the Pakistan duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan round up the top 5 batters.
West Indies' Johnson Charles is the only new arrival into the top 10, up by four spots, with Afghanistan star Rahmanullah Gurbaz a place lower after going up five spots.
Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah jumped a whopping 44 places to zoom to 24th spot while spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also climbed 20 places to be just outside the top-10 at 11th.
Spin all-rounder Axar Patel, who has moved up to eighth, remains the top-ranked Indian bowler.
England's Adil Rashid remains on top of the bowling rankings, but Rashid Khan is up to second after his T20 World Cup heroics, with Josh Hazlewood moving up three places into fourth, behind Hasaranga.
Marcus Stoinis has been knocked off the top spot in the all-rounders' rankings after his short stay as No. 1. He is Stoinis down to fourth, with India's Hardik Pandya up to third, Mohammad Nabi of Afghanistan in second, and Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga back to top spot.
Roston Chase of West Indies is the big mover among all-rounders, up 17 places to 12th.
Meet the new No.1 in the ICC Men's T20I Batting Rankings 🌟
— ICC (@ICC) June 26, 2024
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Narayana Guru's philosophy counters majoritarianism amid social divisions, says Siddaramaiah
Varkala (Kerala) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said saint and social reformer Sree Narayana Guru's philosophy remains a powerful answer to rising majoritarianism and social divisions in an India that boasts of economic progress even as unity weakens.
Speaking at the 93rd Sivagiri Pilgrim Conclave at Sivagiri Math, founded by Guru here, Siddaramaiah, the chief guest at the function, lamented that today's India faces a paradox where "we boast of economic growth, digital expansion and global influence, and yet social solidarity is weakening, and hatred is being normalised".
He said caste has not disappeared, but it has just changed its grammar.
Noting that communalism no longer speaks openly of hierarchy, it speaks the language of identity, fear, and majoritarian pride, Siddaramaiah said Guru foresaw this danger.
"He understood that when religion is separated from compassion and ethics, it becomes a tool of domination," Siddaramaiah said.
"Guru's philosophy directly counters religious majoritarianism, cultural nationalism without equality and identity politics without justice. His message reminds us that nation-building without social justice is merely state-building, not democracy," he said.
The Karnataka chief minister said it was no coincidence that after meeting Guru, Mahatma Gandhi sharpened his stance against untouchability, took a stand in favour of a simple life, and refused to attend weddings if they were not inter-caste.
He said that Rabindranath Tagore's idea of the "universal man" was inspired by the works of Guru.
He also shaped the ethical universe of Tagore, who acknowledged that dividing human beings in the name of religion is the greatest injustice, the CM said.
"Thus, Guru stands at the ideological crossroads of modern India by bridging spirituality, rationalism, humanism and social justice," Siddaramaiah said. The conclave was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
According to Siddramaiah, Guru's influence was not confined to Kerala.
"His historic dialogue with Mahatma Gandhi in 1925 altered the intellectual course of the freedom movement. It made Gandhiji confront a fundamental truth that “Caste is not cultural diversity, it is institutionalised injustice," he said.
Using the mango tree analogy, Guru revealed that though leaves differ, their essence is the same, making Mahatma Gandhi realise that caste and religion, not diversity, are the world's deepest social problems, the Karnataka CM said. Siddaramaiah also spoke about Guru's impact on Karnataka.
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"Though geographically rooted in Kerala, Guru's influence crossed linguistic and state boundaries, shaping reform movements along the Karnataka coast, especially in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, and parts of Malnad," he said.
He said the Billava, Elava, Ediga, Mogaveera, and other backward communities of coastal Karnataka drew inspiration from Guru's call for dignity, education, and organisation.
"His message strengthened anti-caste assertion and self-respect movements in the region. This is one of the main reasons for strong resistance to attempts by communal forces to divide the people in the region," he said.
The chief minister said Basavanna's Kayaka (dignified labour) finds a direct echo in Narayana Guru's insistence on economic self-reliance alongside spiritual growth.
"Basavanna democratised devotion through Vachanas, Narayana Guru democratized divinity itself, asserting that human beings' exclusions are not graded by birth, but equal by existence. Both transformed religion from a tool of exclusion into a language of social justice," he said.
Siddaramaiah opined that the Sivagiri Pilgrimage cannot remain a yearly ritual.
"It must become a continuous social movement," the chief minister said and called upon religious leaders to speak against hatred, scholars to take Guru's philosophy into classrooms, youth to challenge injustice, not inherit silence and political institutions to align governance with ethical values," he said.
Concluding his address, Siddaramaiah called for an India rooted in dignity, dialogue and equal humanity, saying this was the democratic vision shared by Narayana Guru, Mahatma Gandhi and the Sivagiri movement.
