See which position in the ICC rankings KL Rahul has moved to after stellar showing against New Zealand

By
Sheersho Neogi
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62

Following his superb display against New Zealand in the recently concluded 5-match T20I series, India opener KL Rahul has been rewarded with the No.2 spot in the latest ICC T20I rankings for batsmen. The Karnataka batsman scored 224 runs in 5 games and was named as the man-of-the-series after Virat Kohli’s India became the first team in history to whitewash the Kiwis at their home in a 5-match series.

Picture Credit: AFP

With Shikhar Dhawan out with injury, Rahul was given the task to open for India and the makeshift keeper used this opportunity to establish himself as one of the best T20I players around. Rahul, scored 56, 57 (not out), 27, 39 and 45 in the series and stands at 823 rating points, 56 behind Pakistan’s Babar Azam who retained the top spot (879 points).

After Rishabh Pant’s injury in the second ODI against Australia at home, Rahul took the wicketkeeping duties and since then, has cemented his place in the Indian team, be it the middle-order or as an opener with Rohit Sharma.

Sharma, who scored two half-centuries in the T20I series against the Kiwis, moved into the top-10 of the T20I rankings and as a result India now have 3 batsmen in the top-10 list in the form of Virat Kohli (673 points) at 9th place, followed by Rohit Sharma (662 points) just behind him at 10th.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah on the other hand, climbed 26 places up to reach the 11th spot after his marvellous performance in the recently concluded T20I series.

However, India climbed just one place higher and are now 4th in the ICC’s team rankings for T20I Internationals while Pakistan, Australia and England occupy the top-3 spots.

Meanwhile, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson’s 160 runs in 3 games during the series, took him from 23rd to 16th position; while Tim Seifert jumped from 73rd to 34th and Ross Taylor from 50th to 39th in the recently published batsmen’s list. Leggie Ish Sodhi also made improvement in the bowler’s rankings, climbing six places higher to the 13th spot.

 

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