Virat Kohli displaced as top T20I batsman; India fall to sixth place in ICC Rankings

Farhaan Behardien and JP Duminy wait for play to resume in Cuttack during the 2nd T2OI

As a result of the 2-0 series win for South Africa over India in the concluded T20I series, there has been some major movements in the ICC Rankings for the shortest format of the game – Virat Kohli has lost his place at the top of the Batsman’s Rankings, and there has been significant upward movements for Proteas batsmen.

The new No.1 T20 batsman is Australia’s Aaron Finch, with nine points separating the two top batsmen in the world. The action is all set to heat up in coming months, with a lot of T20 action slated, in the lead-up to next year’s ICC World T20 in India.

JP Duminy, who came up with matchwinning innings in both of the two matches that were played at Dharamshala and Cuttack with unbeaten scores of 68 and 30, has overtaken India’s Suresh Raina and climbed five places to 11th with 649 points, three points adrift of Australia’s David Warner.

Hashim Amla has moved up one place to 23rd, AB de Villiers has climbed five places to 34th, while Farhaan Behardien is the highest mover, up 15 places to 94th.

Rain saves India from falling to 8th place

In the ICC Rankings for T20I Bowlers, Imran Tahir moved back into the top 10 for his 2 wickets in the series and is the highest ranked South African bowler, at ninth spot. Ravichandran Ashwin, who was the best Indian bowler by a mile in the series, holds on to the fourth position.

Kyle Abbott, the Proteas pacer, has soared 15 places to a career-high 29th after two for 50 in both games. Other notable movers include Indians Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has moved up four places to 31st and Harbhajan Singh (up two to 47th), while there were career-high gains for South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada (up 40 to 68th) and Raina (up 12 to 88th).

Faf du Plessis’ men have now moved up one place to fifth, while MS Dhoni’s side has dropped two places to sixth. Had India lost the 3rd T20I at Kolkata, which was washed out, they would have plummetted further to 8th spot. Rain has come to India’s rescue for now, but it is certain that there will be a lot of movement in this table before the World Cup next year.

Team Rankings