For only the fourth time in history, an Indian batter has climbed to the top of the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings.
Abhishek Sharma‘s reign at the summit lasted almost a year before he was replaced by his India teammate Ishan Kishan in the latest rankings update. Interestingly, Abhishek had himself taken over the No. 1 spot from his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Travis Head. Now, Ishan has followed the same path by dethroning another SRH star.
Kishan’s rise comes despite India’s disappointing 0-2 T20I series defeat to Ireland in Belfast. While the wicketkeeper-batter managed only 13 runs across the two matches, compared to Abhishek’s scores of 49 and 0, the rankings reflect performances over a longer period rather than one series.
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The 27-year-old’s promotion has largely been fuelled by his outstanding T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year, where he smashed 317 runs at a strike rate of nearly 200, including a Player of the Match-winning knock against Pakistan in Colombo.
Kishan thus became only the fourth Indian batter to occupy the No. 1 spot in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings, joining an elite list featuring Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma.
Bumrah returns to the top in Tests
Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah reclaimed the No. 1 position in the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings after Matt Henry missed the Nottingham Test against England through injury.
Henry lost one per cent of his rating points after sitting out the match, surrendering the top spot to Bumrah just a week after replacing the Indian pacer.
There was also a change at the top of the Test batting rankings.
Travis Head climbed to No. 1 after disappointing outings from England’s Joe Root and Harry Brook in the third Test against New Zealand.
Head now sits on 853 rating points, one ahead of Brook, while Root slipped to third after beginning his 12th stint as the world’s top-ranked Test batter just a week ago.
England captain Ben Stokes finished his Test career ranked 34th among bowlers after climbing three places, while also moving up two spots to third in the all-rounders’ rankings. He is ranked 54th among Test batters.
