Dubai, March 19 : New Zealand's opening pair of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen along with new-ball bowler Jacob Duffy have made huge gains in the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings after helping their team to a 2-0 lead against Pakistan in the five-match T20I series.

The Black Caps have already opened up a 2-0 lead over Pakistan in the five-match T20I series, with their new-look opening combination doing plenty of damage during the Powerplay on both occasions.

Sifert, who smashed 44 off 29 in the first match in Christchurch and 45 off 22 in the second, has progressed 20 slots to 13th position, while Allen has moved up eight spots to 18th position with contributions of 29 not out off 17 and 38 off 16, ICC said in a release.

Seifert and Allen got fine opening stands in both matches, the highlight being a 66-run blitz in the second match in Dunedin, in which seven of the first eight scoring shots of the innings were sixes as New Zealand chased a target of 136 with 11 balls to spare and five wickets in hand.

Australia's Travis Head remains at the top of the T20I rankings for batters, ahead of Abhishek Sharma of India (second) and Phil Salt from England (third).

In the bowling chart, Duffy, who has picked six wickets in the two matches, including a career-best haul of four for 14 in the first match that New Zealand won by nine wickets with almost 10 overs to spare, has advanced 23 slots to a career-best 12th position in a list led by West Indies' Akeal Hosein with India's Varun Chakaravarthy sitting second.

Other players to gain in the latest weekly rankings were New Zealand bowlers Ish Sodhi (up two places to 36th), Ben Sears (up 22 places to 67th) and Zakary Foulkes (up 41 places to 90th), and Pakistan's Haris Rauf (up four places to 26th).

In the allrounder list, India's Hardik Pandya remained on top, followed by Dipendra Singh Airee of Nepal (second), Australia's Marcus Stoinis (third).

/IANS