Rahul, Rohit rise in ICC T20I rankings

Dubai, Dec 25 (IANS) Indian batsmen Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma have made substantial gains in the Twenty20 International (T20I) rankings following India’s 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka.

Rahul has gained 23 slots to reach the fourth position among batsmen after scoring 154 runs, including two half-centuries, during the series, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday.

Rohit climbed six rungs to reach 14th position. He scored 162 runs during the series, which included a knock of 118 in the second match in Indore.

Australia opener Aaron Finch moved up a rung, displacing Virat Kohli to take the top spot. West Indies opener Evin Lewis also gained a spot to rise to second place.

Kohli slipped to third position after missing the series due to personal commitments. As players lose two per cent of their rating points for each T20I missed, Kohli has slipped from 824 points to 776 points.

However, Kohli, who is the top ranked batsman in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and placed second in Tests, is only eight points behind Finch and four behind Lewis.

Among the bowlers, Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s eight wickets in the series have helped him move up 14 slots to reach 16th position while Hardik Pandya (up 40 places to joint 39th) and Kuleep Yadav (up 48 places to 64) have also moved northwards after taking six wickets each.

For Sri Lanka, Kusal Perera has moved up eight places to take the 30th slot in the batsmen’s list after aggregating 100 runs in the series while Upul Tharanga has gained 36 slots to reach 105th position after his total of 81 runs.

Thisara Perera has gained two places to reach the 70th position among the bowlers.

In the ICC T20I team rankings, India have moved up from their pre-series tally of 119 points to 121 points.

They have leapfrogged England, New Zealand and the West Indies to move from fifth to second position in a list led by Pakistan with 124 points.