DUBAI: Indian captain Virat Kohli has moved back into the top five of the ICC’s T20I rankings for batsmen, while England’s Jos Buttler jumped into the top 20 as a result of performances in the ongoing five-match series in Ahmedabad.
Kohli, who has led the T20I rankings before and currently tops the ODI table, gained 47 rating points and moved up one slot after making unbeaten scores of 73 and 77 in the last two matches. Buttler meanwhile advanced five places to 19th after his match-winning 83 had fired England to a 2-1 lead on Tuesday.
Jonny Bairstow, who shared a 77-run partnership with Buttler in the third T20I, jumped two places to 14th, while Jason Roy was rewarded for scores of 49 and 46 in the first two matches by moving up to 24th. In the bowlers’ rankings, Jofra Archer (34th), Mark Wood (39th) and Sam Curran (74th) all made gains.
For India, Shreyas Iyer (31st) and Rishabh Pant (80th) made up ground in the batting list, while Washington Sundar (11th), Shardul Thakur (27th) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (45th) all advanced in the bowlers’ rankings.
In the ODI rankings for batsmen, West Indies’ Shai Hope shot up to joint-seventh, after he had been named the Player of the Series against Sri Lanka for his recent scores of 110, 84 and 64. Following West Indies’ 3-0 series win, Nicholas Pooran (32nd), Evin Lewis (44th) and Darren Bravo (99th) also climbed up the rankings, while seamer Alzari Joseph advanced seven places to a career-best 27th in the bowlers’ list.
Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shahidi was the biggest mover in the Test rankings for batsmen, leaping 47 spots to 90th, after becoming the first person from his country to score a double-century, against Zimbabwe. The team’s captain Asghar Afghan, who scored 164 and shared a fourth-wicket stand of 307 with Shahidi, moved up to a career-best 65th on the list. Rashid Khan, who bowled almost 100 overs in the second Test, vaulted nine places to 32nd in the bowlers rankings.
Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams, who had kept Afghanistan waiting with his defiant 151 after following on, moved to a career-high 24th on the batting list with 621 rating points, the most by any player from the country since Brendan Taylor in 2014.
BABAR IN TOP 10 OF ALL FORMATS:
Pakistan captain Babar Azam ranked among the world’s best batsmen in the rankings. He was placed at the third number in T20I and ODI rankings while in the Test rankings, the 26-year-old was positioned at number six.
