Ishan Kishan becomes No.1 T20 batter; Abhishek Sharma Moves Down the ICC Rankings
Ishan Kishan has replaced team-mate Abhishek Sharma at the top of the rankings for T20I batters, and become the fourth men's batter from India to top the charts.
XtraTime Newsdesk: Ishan Kishan has replaced team-mate Abhishek Sharma at the top of the rankings for T20I batters, and become the fourth men's batter from India to top the charts. Travis Head, meanwhile, rose to No. 1 among Test batters as Joe Root slipped two places to No. 3 following a below-par series against New Zealand.
It has been a swift rise to No. 1 for wicketkeeper-batter Kishan, who had returned to the India T20I team in January after an absence of more than two years. Scores of 76 and 103 against New Zealand helped him break into India's T20 World Cup squad, and he finished the tournament as the fourth-highest run-scorer with 317 runs as India successfully defended their title from 2024.
Before Kishan, only Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek had held the No. 1 spot for India among T20I batters.
Among T20I allrounders, Shivam Dube rose three places to No. 7 after contributions with both bat and ball in the two-match series against Ireland. Although India lost the series 2-0, Dube scored 45 runs and bagged three wickets at an average of 14.33 and an economy rate of just 7.16.
In the Test rankings, Root slid down after scoring just 171 runs at an average of 28.50 across the three Tests against New Zealand. Harry Brook, who scored 58 in England's first innings of the third Test, at Trent Bridge, stayed at No. 2, and just one rating point behind Head.
Centurions from that game - New Zealand's trio of Daryl Mitchell (11th), Devon Conway (15th) and Tom Latham (31st), and England's Ben Duckett (14th) - all moved up the batting charts too. Rachin Ravindra, who scored 94 in the second innings at Trent Bridge after scoring 76 at The Oval, gained two places to rise up to No. 7 among Test batters.
Ben Stokes, who retired from international cricket at the end of the series, ended his career at No. 3 among Test allrounders. Stokes moved up two spots after grabbing six wickets at Trent Bridge, including 4 for 70 in the first innings. Matt Henry slid down to No. 2 among Test bowlers after missing the match due to injury, with Jasprit Bumrah replacing him at the top.
There were some gains for the top performers in the recently concluded Antigua and Harare Tests as well. West Indies' seam-bowling pair of Shamar Joseph (14th) and Kemar Roach (17th) made big gains after their win against Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe's Blessing Muzarabani (19th) climbed up after Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh to register their biggest Test win
