India’s T20I stars have made some big moves in the latest ICC rankings, with Abhishek Sharma climbing to the No. 2 position among T20I batters. The Indian opener has moved past Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, who has now been pushed down from the second spot.
Abhishek Sharma’s rise comes after a brilliant run in the ongoing T20I series against Afghanistan. He scored a stunning 82 off 32 balls in the first T20I and followed it with 39 off 19 balls in the second match. India won both the games comfortably.
At the top of the rankings, India’s No. 3 batter Ishan Kishan continues to hold the No. 1 position.
Ishan Kishan has also had an excellent few days. Just three days before the first T20I, he led East Zone to a Duleep Trophy victory over South Zone in Chennai. He played a major role with the bat as well, scoring 270 and 80 across the two innings. His 270 in the first innings was especially important and played a major part in East Zone’s victory.
Ishan Kishan then scored 42 off 33 balls in the first T20I against Afghanistan. In the second match of the three-game series, he improved his performance with 38 not out off 23 balls.
Abhishek is currently 51 rating points behind Ishan Kishan in the ICC rankings. There was also good news for Jasprit Bumrah, who has returned to the top 10 in the world. The Indian fast bowler has moved up seven places after his performances against Afghanistan.
Although Bumrah has not taken many wickets in the series, he has remained difficult to score against and has continued to bowl economically. Bumrah does not play T20 cricket regularly, especially against lesser-ranked teams. However, the Afghanistan series is different because he had not played any cricket since the ODI series against England in July. He also missed the two-Test series against Sri Lanka in August, where his absence was felt by India. The Afghanistan matches are giving him valuable match practice and an opportunity to assess his fitness ahead of the Asian Games later this month.
India is taking the Asian Games assignment seriously and has announced a strong squad under captain Shreyas Iyer. Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh has climbed to No. 14, making a massive jump of 11 places in the rankings. Varun Chakaravarthy has also moved up two places to No. 5. However, he has suffered a setback after picking up a side strain against Afghanistan.
Varun Chakaravarthy has been ruled out of the Asian Games and will also miss the historic one-off T20I against Japan later this month. He did not play in Tuesday’s second T20I against Afghanistan because of the injury.
With Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, all making significant moves, India has plenty of reasons to be pleased with the latest ICC T20I rankings.
