Iyer's teammate pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar jumped three spots to 17th on the bowler rankings, while former captain Virat Kohli, who was rested for the Sri Lanka T20Is, fell out of the top 10 - he dropped five places to 15th.
England face unbeaten New Zealand in the first semi-final of 2016 World T20 at New Delhi's Ferozshah Kotla Stadium on March 30. While England have been champions in 2010, New Zealand will be eyeing their first World T20 title. Following is a factbox of the two teams:
India will be without captain and batting mainstay Virat Kohli, who decided to skip the first of the two Tests, while batter Rohit Sharma, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will miss both matches.
The hullabaloo over his hamstring was confusing as well as amusing for Rohit Sharma, who says he always knew that the injury was not that serious and he would be battle-ready for the tour of Australia.
Rookie opener Sarel Erwee savoured a maiden century as South Africa dominated day one of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch to be 238 for three at the close on Friday.
'As a cricketer, in the last few years, we lost out on a few games which we could have potentially played. Yes, if we could sneak in a few matches, it would be great.'
Sitting atop the points table, Kolkata Knight Riders would look to consolidate their position when they clash with an equally confident Delhi Daredevils in what promises to be a thrilling IPL encounter, in New Delhi, on Monday.
Debutant Ishan Kishan was in awe of captain Virat Kohli during their 94-run stand in the second T20 International against England, in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Marlon Samuels was 50 not out, while Narsingh Deonarine was on 11, chasing New Zealand's 441, at stumps after rain delayed the start of play by 75 minutes and then washed out the entire middle session.
Images from Wednesday's World Cup match between England and New Zealand, at Chester-le-street.
India captain Virat Kohli was named as the International Cricketer of the Year at the CEAT Cricket Ratings awards in Mumbai, on Monday.
New Zealand pace bowler Kyle Jamieson enjoyed a dream start to his Test career on the opening day of the first match against India as he captured three wickets and also took a catch in the deep as the tourists limped to 122-5 after rain washed out the entire post-tea session. Ajinkya Rahane was on 38 at stumps at the Basin Reserve on Friday, while the recalled Rishabh Pant was 10 not out, with the 2.03m tall Jamieson tormenting batsmen with his ability to get the ball to rear off a length.
New Zealand openers Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford safely negotiated their way to the close of play on the third day of the third Test against West Indies on Saturday after their bowlers had set up a likely victory with a destructive display.
The squad for the two Tests against India is set to be named on February 17, with the opening match starting four days later in Wellington on February 21.
New Zealand will be banking on injured pace bowlers Trent Boult (hand), Matt Henry (thumb) and Lockie Ferguson (calf) coming back into contention for the Tests
New Zealand pace spearheads exploited a tricky Basin Reserve wicket to bowl India out for under 200 twice with Jamieson's height and delivery angle providing plenty of problems.
The dead rubber New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground at least offers a chance for New Zealand to reset
There is still enough pull to play for New Zealand: Ferguson on players giving up contracts
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after 29 World Cup 2023 games.
History is on Hardik Pandya's side, which has won all three games against the Royals so far, and that would certainly play on the minds of the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan outfit at the Narendra Modi stadium.
India stalwart Virat Kohli retained his second spot in the ICC men's ODI batting rankings on the back of his decent performance in the recently-concluded three-match series in South Africa.
Images from the ICC World Cup match between Australia and New Zealand, in Dharamsala, on Saturday.
The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League will commence, on Saturday, April 7 and will end on 27th May
Daredevils once again had a stop-start campaign in the ongoing IPL and are standing on the verge of yet another early elimination.
India's Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah unmoved
New Zealand are hoping to give a better account of themselves when they take on the Indian Board President's XI in the final warm-up game on Thursday before the first One-Day International, in Mumbai on October 22.
The mighty Mumbai Indians are looking all set to win their fifth Indian Premier League title, when they take on Delhi Capitals in the final, in Dubai on Tuesday.
Following is the list of players who have been released by the different franchises ahead of the auction for the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik will face a big test when a struggling Kolkata Knight Riders lock horns with a resurgent Delhi Daredevils, led by double title winning former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir, in a much-anticipated IPL clash, in Kolkata, on Monday.
The 25-year-old Yadav, who now has 99 ODI wickets, ended the match with the figures of 3-52.
New Zealand coach Gary Stead, on Tuesday, said he was a bit surprised by India's abject surrender in the first Test but is expecting a strong comeback in Christchurch.
Brendon McCullum had possibly the easiest day of his Test captaincy on Friday but still agonised over asking West Indies to follow-on in the wake of criticism of his decision to do so last week in the drawn first Test.
A determined New Zealand bounced back in fine style on the third day to gain the upperhand in the World Test Championship final.
Brimming with confidence after a clean-sweep in the Test series, India will look to carry on their dominance over New Zealand when the two teams lock horns in the first cricket One-day International of the five-match series, in Dharamsala on Sunday.
IMAGES from the IPL 2022 game between Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals in Pune on Tuesday.
IMAGES from the IPL match played between CSK and Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on Friday.
New Zealand's pace attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, however, made life difficult for the visitors
Rishabh Pant became the first Indian and only the 12th player on record to hit a six as the first scoring shot of their Test career.
Virat Kohli has made "more mistakes in one IPL season" than he has in his entire 14-year international career, feels Virender Sehwag, who is seeing a "different version" of the former India captain than what one is used to.
