India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has become the world’s No. 1-ranked T20I batter, overtaking teammate Abhishek Sharma in the latest ICC Player Rankings released on Wednesday. The update came after India’s 2-0 T20I series defeat to Ireland in Belfast.
Kishan reached a career-best rating to move past Abhishek, who had held the top spot for close to a year. Abhishek now trails Kishan by just seven rating points. Kishan’s climb to No. 1 follows his strong run at the ICC T20 World Cup earlier this year, where he scored 317 runs at a strike rate of nearly 200, including a Player of the Match performance against Pakistan in Colombo.
With this achievement, Kishan becomes only the fourth Indian men’s batter to reach the No. 1 spot in T20I rankings, joining Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav on that list.
Other Movers In T20I Rankings
Ireland captain Lorcan Tucker moved up four places to joint 77th in the batting rankings, while Ross Adair climbed six spots to 84th following strong performances against India. In the bowling list, Ireland’s Matthew Humphreys rose one place to 25th after picking up four wickets in the series, recording a career-best rating.
Among all-rounders, India’s Shivam Dube advanced three places to seventh. Ireland’s Gareth Delany and Harry Tector also moved up to 24th and 38th, respectively.
Travis Head Becomes No. 1 Test Batter
The ICC Test rankings saw a major shift as well, with Australia’s Travis Head becoming the world’s No. 1 Test batter for the first time in his career. Head replaced England’s Harry Brook, who slipped to second after a modest showing in the Nottingham Test against New Zealand. Joe Root also dropped two places to third.
India’s Jasprit Bumrah reclaimed the sole No. 1 position among Test bowlers after New Zealand’s Matt Henry fell to second.
New Zealand’s win over England at Trent Bridge lifted several of their batters in the rankings. Rachin Ravindra moved up two places to seventh, Daryl Mitchell gained five spots to reach 11th, Devon Conway jumped 14 places to joint 15th, and Tom Latham rose 12 places to joint 31st.
Bowling And All-Rounder Rankings Updates
New Zealand pacer Nathan Smith improved eight places to 38th among Test bowlers. England’s Ben Stokes moved up two places to finish his international career at No. 3 in the Test all-rounder rankings, following his retirement mid-match.
West Indies pacers Shamar Joseph and Kemar Roach also gained ground after their team’s win over Sri Lanka in Antigua. Joseph climbed nine places to joint 14th in the bowling rankings, while Roach moved up four spots to 17th.
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