Abhishek, Kishan stay 1-2 in ICC T20I rankings
Swashbuckling India batters Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan retained the top two spots in the latest ICC T20I player rankings released on Wednesday. Abhishek leads the chart with 875 points, followed closely by Kishan at 871.
They are joined in the top 10 by Tilak Varma, who is placed sixth, and India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is in seventh position. Veteran England wicketkeeper batter Jos Buttler (up one place to eighth) and New Zealand’s Tim Seifert (down one spot to ninth) are the only players within the top 20 to register movement this week.
South Africa batter Connor Esterhuizen has continued his recent rise by making giant strides. Esterhuizen made an immediate impact when commencing his international career during South Africa’s recent T20I series in New Zealand, with the 24-year-old amassing a total of 200 runs to be adjudged the Player of the Series.
It helped him jump from outside the top 100 spots for T20I batters to 39th overall, capping a fine fortnight for the hard-hitting right-hander and the Proteas as they claimed a narrow 3-2 series triumph.
Esterhuizen’s haul of 200 runs was double more than anyone else managed across the five-game series, with New Zealand keeper Tim Robinson (up two places to equal 32nd) also making ground on the list for T20I batters following his 81 runs against the Proteas.
Among bowlers, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan continued to lead the charts with India spinner Varun Chakaravarthy and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah holding on to their second and fifth spot respectively.
A host of South Africa players were the big winners following their efforts against New Zealand.
The pace trio Gerald Coetzee (up 36 spots to equal 52nd), Ottneil Baartman (up 10 places to 56th) and George Linde (up six rungs to shared 62nd) have made some ground, while inexperienced New Zealand seamer Zakary Foulkes (up 11 slots to 70th) has also been rewarded.
