KL Rahul jumps to 2nd spot, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma in top 10 of ICC T20I batsmen rankings

India's superlative show against New Zealand saw the Men in Blue whitewashing the Black Caps 5-0 in the T20 International series resulting in several players climbing up the International Cricket Council rankings. Kannur Lokesh Rahul topped the batting charts in the series and jumped four places in the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings to grab a career best-equaling second place. Several other Indian players, too, made the upward journey thanks to their good show against New Zealand.

Rohit Sharma entered the top 10 climbing three places, Shreyas Iyer moved to 55th position jumping a massive 63 places while Manish Pandey reached 58th which is 12 places up from his last ranking. Captain Virat Kohli stays ninth after scoring 105 runs in four matches. India has the maximum representation in the top 10 T20I batsmen rankings with KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma making the cut.

The top batsman is Babar Azam of Pakistan with 879 points while Australian skipper Aaron Finch, New Zealand's Colin Munro and Dawid Malan of England make the top five.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who missed the last two T20I against India due to an injury, has also seen his rank improve from 23 to 16 thanks to his 160 runs in the series while wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert has made a quantum jump from 73 to 34. Veteran batsman Ross Taylor is now ranked 39 while leg-spinner Ish Sodhi is at the 13th position among bowlers.

Indian bowlers, too, have made rapid strides in the rankings with star pacer Jasprit Bumrah at 11 after moving up 26 places, Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is now ranked 30th up from the 40th positing in the last rankings while Shardul Thakur’s eight wickets in the series have lifted him 34 places to 57th position. Navdeep Saini has also reasons to cheer as he has moved up 25 places to 71st while Ravindra Jadeja is at 76.

For Pakistan, experienced players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have advanced to 45th and 71th positions, respectively, after slamming a half-century each in the three-match series. Babar Azam, the third Pakistan batsman to score a half-century in the series, has retained the top position as well as his aggregate of 879 points.

Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has moved up from 72nd to 39th position with two wickets in the series, which the home side won 2-0, with one match abandoned, to retain the top rank in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal, who top-scored in the series with an aggregate of 104 runs, has gained 11 slots to reach 50th position. Al Amin-Hossain is at 51st position among bowlers after gaining 25 places.

MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings (as of February 3, 2020)

Batsmen (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts       Avge    S/R      Highest Rating

   1        ( - )       Babar Azam      Pak      879      50.72   128       896 v Eng at Cardiff 2019
   2          (+4)      Lokesh Rahul    India     823      45.65   146       854 v Eng at Old Trafford 2018
   3        (-1)       Aaron Finch      Aus      810      38.32   156       901 v Zim at Harare 2018
   4        ( - )       Colin Munro      NZ        785      31.34   156       831 v Pak at Dubai 2018
   5        (-2)       Dawid Malan     Eng      782*     57.25   156       798 v NZ at Napier 2019
   6        (-1)       Glenn Maxwell   Aus      766       35.02   160       837 v SL at Adelaide 2019
   7        ( - )       Evin Lewis        WI        702      32.20   155       782 v Eng at Durham 2017
   8        ( - )       H Zazai              Afg      692*     43.25   163       736 v WI at Lucknow 2019
   9        ( - )       Virat Kohli         India     673       50.80   138       897 v Eng at Edgbaston 2014
  10       (+3)      Rohit Sharma    India     662       32.62   139       719 v WI at Lucknow 2018

Other selected rankings

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge     S/R       Highest Rating

  16       (+7)       K Williamson     NZ        584      32.64    125       761 v Ban at Napier 2017
  34=     (+43)     Tim Seifert        NZ        508*!    22.85    140       508 v India at Bay Oval 2020
  39       (+11)     Ross Taylor       NZ        502      26.51    123       538 v Pak at Hamilton 2010
  45       (+3)       Shoaib Malik     Pak      487      31.36    124       577 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2009
  50=     (+11)     Tamim Iqbal      Ban      479      23.84    117       550 v SL at Chittagong 2014
  55=     (+63)     Shreyas Iyer      India     451*!    27.80    130       451 v NZ at Bay Oval 2020
  58       (+12)     Manish Pandey India     447      47.13    128       531 v Ire at Malahide 2018
  71       (+10)     M Hafeez          Pak      407      25.21    117       650 v SL at Dubai 2013

Bowlers (top 10)

Rank    (+/-)      Player              Team      Pts      Avge     Eco      Highest Rating

   1        ( - )       Rashid Khan     Afg       749      12.52    6.15     816 v Ban at Dehradun 2018
   2        ( - )       M Ur Rahman    Afg       742*!    16.20    5.40     742 v WI at Lucknow 2019
   3        ( - )       M Santner         NZ        677      21.07    7.36     724 v Pak at Wellington 2018
   4        (+1)      Adam Zampa    Aus      674      20.42    6.15     720 v SL at Brisbane 2019
   5        (-1)       Imad Wasim      Pak      672      21.61    5.93     780 v WI at Trinidad 2017
   6        ( - )       A Phehlukwayo SA        665      18.96    7.87     666 v India at Mohali 2019
   7        ( - )       Adil Rashid       Eng      660      25.64    7.51     716 v WI at St Kitts 2019
   8        ( - )       Shadab Khan    Pak      653      20.87    7.03     769 v Sco at Edinburgh 2018
   9        ( - )       Ashton Agar      Aus      649!     27.29    6.92     649 v Pak at Perth Stadium 2019
  10       ( - )       Chris Jordan     Eng      640      24.07    8.58     659 v NZ at Wellington 2019

Other selected rankings 

Rank    (+/-)      Player                Team    Pts      Avge     Eco      Highest Rating

  11=     (+26)     J Bumrah            India   630      20.25    6.66     764 v Eng at Bengaluru 2017
  13       (+6)      Ish Sodhi            NZ      622      24.09    8.05     732 v Pak at Wellington 2018
  30=     (+10)     Y Chahal             India   529      24.34    8.18     706 v Ban at Colombo (RPS) 2018
  39=     (+33)     S Afridi                Pak    511*!    20.81    7.23     511 v Ban at Lahore 2020
  51=     (+25)     Al-Amin Hossain Ban     470      17.26    7.20     626 v OMA at Dharamsala 2016
  57       (+34)     Shardul Thakur   India    461*!    21.00    8.73     461 v NZ at Bay Oval 2020
  71=     (+25)     Navdeep Saini     India   430*!    18.07    7.15     430 v NZ at Bay Oval 2020
  76       (+34)     R Jadeja             India   419      29.53    7.10     659 v Pak at Mirpur 2016

All-rounders (top five) 

Rank    (+/-)      Player               Team     Pts      Highest Rating

   1        ( - )       M Nabi               Afg      319      355 v Ban at Mirpur 2019
   2        ( - )       Glenn Maxwell   Aus      231      368 v SL at Colombo (RPS) 2016
   3        ( - )       Sean Williams   Zim       212      226 v Nepal at Singapore 2019
   4        ( - )       R Berrington      Sco      194      204 v Ire at Malahide 2019
   5        ( - )       Rohan Mustafa UAE     156      174 v JER at Abu Dhabi 2019