Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper has reclaimed his 5th spot in the latest ICC T20I Rankings for batsmen following consecutive unbeaten half-centuries in the last two games against England.
After having registered a duck in the opening T20I encounter, Virat Kohli roared back in form with two high-quality 70+ scores in the last two matches and, as a result, he has swapped places with South Africa’s Rassie van der Dussen in the T20I rankings.
Virat Kohli Scores Unbeaten 73 And 77 In Consecutive Matches To Reclaim 5th Spot In T20I Rankings
Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 49-ball 73 in the second T20I to help India overhaul the target of 165 before he backed it up with yet another sumptuous knock of 46-ball 77* that helped India recover from a precarious state of 3/24 to a respectable 6/156 in the third match.
His knock of 77* in the last game was typical Virat Kohli innings in which he initially took his time to settle, assessed the situation before going full throttle at the death overs. The two strokes that Virat Kohli played off Mark Wood- a flat-batted pull over mid-wicket and then a lofted-drive over long-off- were easily the highlight of his innings, which was glittered with eight fours and four sixes.
The Indian captain Virat Kohli, who is ranked No.5 and No.1 in Test and ODIs respectively, is the only batsmen in the world to be ranked in the top-5 across all three formats of the game. He is also the only cricketer to average more than 50 in all three formats.
As far as other players are concerned, England’s Dawid Malan continues to hold on to the numero-uno spot in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen despite a poor series thus far.
Dawid Malan has scored only 66 runs averaging 33 in the ongoing series but he averages 51.17 in 22 T20Is amassing 921 runs with 1 hundred and 9 fifties.
Devon Conway Enters Top 10 Batsmen Ranking
Aaron Finch and Babar Azam are No.2 and 3 respectively followed by opener KL Rahul, who has swapped his place with Babar Azam after a forgettable first three matches. KL Rahul has managed scores of 1,0,0 in the last 3 games.
KL Rahul remains the top-ranked Indian batsmen at the fourth spot while Shreyas Iyer is up 32 places to the 31st spot while Rishabh Pant gained 30 spots to be ranked 80th. Among bowlers, all-rounder Washington Sundar is up to two places to 11th while seamers Shardul Thakur (up 14 places to 27th) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (up to seven places to 45th) have also gained.
Jos Buttler has re-entered the top 20 after scoring a match-winning 83 not out in the third T20I which has helped him advance five places to the 19th position. Jonny Bairstow, who chipped in with 40 runs has moved up two slots to 14th position in the list led by his compatriot Dawid Malan. Opener Jason Roy has advanced four slots to 24th with scores of 49 and 46 in the first two matches.
Fast bowlers Jofra Archer (up 43 places to 34th) and Mark Wood (up 59 places to 39th), as well as left-arm seam bowler Sam Curran (up 41 places to 74th), has gained in the weekly update for men.
Glenn Maxwell, Martin Guptill, and Hazratulah Zazai have retained their 7th, 8th, and 9th spot in the rankings while Devon Conway has broken into the top-ten list after a productive series against Australia on home soil.
South Africa’s Devon Conway, 29, made his way into the New Zealand cricket set up last year. A predominant top-order batsman for Wellington who opens the batting in T20s, Devon Conway has already become a star for his domestic side and for the Black Caps. Just a few months into his international career, he has sealed his position in the New Zealand top order.
Devon Conway remained unbeaten on 99 off just 59 deliveries with 10 fours and 3 sixes in the 1st T20I while taking New Zealand to a total of 184 after the rest of the top order failed in the 1st T20I. New Zealand went on to beat Australia, in the 1st home T20I. Devon Conway went unsold in the IPL 2021 Auction even though he had set the base price at Rs. 50 lakh. He has amassed 366 runs in 11 matches averaging 52.29 with 3 fifties.