Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Young opener Abhishek Sharma has held on to his lead at the top of the ICC T20 rankings following his quickfire half-century against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup final, while fellow opener Ishan Kishan is now his closest rival after he moved up two places to second overall after his 317 runs at the tournament, ICC reports.
Kishan earned a new career-high rating to trail Abhishek by just four rating points. Moreover, India duo Sanju Samson (up 18 rungs to 22nd) and Shivam Dube (up four places to 27th) moved further up the batting ranks following some good efforts at the tournament.
Meanwhile, New Zealand opener Tim Seifert moved four places to sixth and England’s Jacob Bethell (up 17 rungs to 16th) also improved to the best marks of their career following some dominant knocks during the T20 World Cup.
There were also gains for New Zealand opener Finn Allen, broke the record for the fastest century ever at a Men’s T20 World Cup with a 33-ball knock against South Africa in the semi-finals, as he climbed seven slots to 20th.
There was a change at the top of the rankings for T20I bowlers, with India spinner Varun Chakravarthy losing the premier position to Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan following the completion of the T20 World Cup.
Chakravarthy dropped to second as Rashid claimed the No.1 ranking despite not playing any matches over the last week. England spinner Adil Rashid moved up one spot to fourth, while India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah placed sixth and Axar Patel (up six slots to 17th) also rewarded for some decent efforts during the T20 World Cup.
