Indian cricketer Abhishek Sharma has surged a whopping 38 places in the ICC T20I Batting Rankings, becoming the second-ranked batsman in the world. His impressive outings in the ongoing T20I series against England have largely been responsible for the rapid climb in rankings.
Stellar Performances Lead to Rankings Boost
Abhishek Sharma has jumped to second place in the T20I rankings after an exceptional century in the fifth T20I against England, in which he made an explosive 135 runs from 54 balls. In the first T20I in Kolkata, Sharma showed his batting potential by scoring 79 runs off just 34 balls. Despite a few relatively quieter innings after that, as he had made only 30 runs in the next three matches, the initial big knocks consistently made earlier ensured his strong stance in the ranks.
For the century he made, Abhishek scored 829 rating points, overtaking his Indian teammate Tilak Verma to reach third position. The two of them are still behind Travis Head, who occupies the first place but are not too far behind him. With no T20I games scheduled for India until August, both Abhishek and Verma have to maintain their position during this gap.
Other notable players in the top rankings include England’s Phil Salt in fourth place and India’s Suryakumar Yadav in fifth.
The other Indian spinner who has gone up the rankings ladder is Varun Chakravarthy. He has climbed three spots and is now in the second position in the ICC T20I Bowling Rankings. His consistent performance in the recent series against England, in which he picked 14 wickets, helped him climb up the rankings.
Consistent Performance Boosts Chakravarthy’s Ranking
Varun Chakravarthy’s consistency in taking wickets across the five-match series has placed him at the top of the charts of being one of the most consistent bowlers in T20I cricket. Varun is placed second, along with England’s Adil Rashid, who is two rating points behind West Indies’ Aqeel Hussain, holding the number one slot. Varun’s ability to make breakthroughs at key moments has paved the way for him to rise to the top in the rankings, making him of extreme importance for India in T20 cricket.
Also, another Indian spinner, Ravi Bishnoi has registered an improvement in ranks. He has moved four places forward and reached the fourth position in the T20I bowlers’ rankings, after a successful trial in the series where he took five wickets, too.
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Jofra Archer Drops to Tenth in T20I Bowling Rankings
On the other side, England fast bowler Jofra Archer has gone a few places back after the game in the last T20I match against India in Mumbai as he leaked 55 runs. So, after this performance, Archer went down four places and is now in the tenth rank in the bowling rankings of T20I.
Both Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy have had massive success in the T20I series against England, with Sharma making a sudden rise to number two in the batting rankings and the latter achieving the best ranking to date at the second position in the bowling ranking. Well, these two Indian stars have now reflected the successive performances of success and will stay on top going into future Indian series.
But before that the next T20I series is set to come in August for India, there is enough time through which these can establish their marks as cricketers across the world and hold the seats.
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